Family Feud
by SupremeStarscream
Summary: What happens when a supervillain gets their hands on superhero and supervillain DNA and uses it to create an army of superpowered "children" that are completely loyal to him? Read and find out. A/N Back after its hiatus.
1. So it Begins

**A/N: Hello everybody! SupremeStarscream here. First off, SO SORRY for the insanely long wait. A lot of stuff has been going on for Miles333 and me, and that's why it took so long. Sorry again bout that. **

**If you have visited Miles333's profile, you know she will no longer be working on this fic with me. Don't worry though as her work will still be used for the chapters she worked on. Now though, my friend Churnok will be taking over her portion of the fic. His chapters will start after chapter 9.**

**Lastly, I'd like to tell everyone that I will only be posting the first 4 chapters for now. It'll be so everyone can catch back up with the fic, but not be overrun by so many chapters at once. After a few days I'll post the last 4 and a BONUS chapter.**

"Excellent..." said a mysterious character from the shadows of his laboratory. "They're almost done." The only light in the lab was coming from the occupied incubation tubes he was examining. Each had what looked like a child growing inside. There were eight of them lining one wall. Each with its own status monitors, education program, and links to central VR program for socialization. Four held what seemed to be boys, while the other four held what appeared to be girls. They looked to be somewhere between four and seven years old. Each had their own look, and if all went according to plan, they would have more than just one or two surprises involved. "Soon," he said to himself. "Soon you'll be ready to help me get my revenge. Revenge on those who stopped my plans. Those who _betrayed_ me. And… just about everyone else I don't like," he added with a shrug when he ran out of specific names.

"Oh, I can't wait to see the looks on all their faces when you walk all over them. You'll be my warriors. My army. My _children,_" he murmured this last bit with a tint of compassion.

"Soon. Then the world will be _**all mine**_." He finished his little speech with a burst of maniacal laughter.


	2. First of Many

"…And you would never believe what Lex said then. He was all like, 'You can't stop someone with the last name Luthor, Superman'. And I told him, 'So you're saying that just because your name is Lex flippin' Luthor, you can't be stopped?' That was a Supes quote, you know. And anyway, he looked all annoyed, and tried to blast me through a wall. Lex, not Supes, that is-"

"Oh?" Ice was resting her chin on one hand, blue eyes staring off absently towards the doorway of the cafeteria.

"You don't say." Shayera rolled her eyes, annoyed with the long story that he was currently telling them. Even though she considered Wally her younger brother, she got tired of hearing the same story told over and over again to everyone in the Justice League. And she had been there herself, and it hadn't been really as exciting as he was making it sound.

"Flash, Black Canary, and Green Arrow to the monitoring womb," came J'onn's voice over the communications system, sounding tired.

"What did you do this time?" Shayera asked, straightening up slightly from her bored position. "Did you and Oliver put more pink dye in Batman's laundry?" She squinted suspiciously at him, recalling the incident clearly. The Dark Knight had been downright terrifying when he had seen his new pink costume. Though what could Dinah have done? She usually wasn't involved in the millions of pranks up here, despite the fact that her boyfriend Green Arrow was usually involved.

The Scarlet Speedster looked nervous. "Uh…no pink dye," he said, raising his eyebrows behind his mask. "Actually, I don't know why they want me. Maybe they found out about what we did with the lipstick and mascara." He added this last part under his breath, but Shayera heard it anyway.

"Please don't tell me. I don't really want to be an accomplice to you and Oliver."

"Actually, it was me and Booster," the crimson-clad hero bragged smugly. "And we got Skeets involved, too, Shayera. You should have been there. It was totally hilarious."

"Really? What did you do, Flash?" The Brazilian beauty Fire looked slightly interested now. She took a delicate bite out of her sweet potato, green eyes wide.

He opened his mouth to answer her, but was interrupted when Green Arrow rushed over to their table, glancing worriedly over his shoulder. "Wally, did you tell someone about the notes?" he hissed urgently.

"Oh, I forgot about that one."

"I don't know you people," Shayera announced, slapping one hand over her face. "Why do you keep doing this? You're just asking for trouble."

Flash shrugged, unconcerned. "I doubt that anyone will find out."

"Flash and Green Arrow to the monitoring womb." J'onn repeated himself loudly.

"It sounds like someone already did. And if I get suspended again, I don't think anyone will be too happy," the emerald archer confessed confidentially.

"But I thought that you didn't want to be in the League, anyway. If you got kicked out, then it wouldn't really matter to you, right?"

"Uh…well…I like it because…of all the pranks we've been playing. Right." He didn't have to mention Canary, as it was obvious to everyone at the table that she was who he was talking about. His and Canary's not-so-secret relationship was a favorite gossip topic in the league.

"Did you ever consider that it could be a mission that they want you to get up there for?" Shayera asked tartly.

Both guys looked at each other like this hadn't occurred to them.

"Brilliant deduction," Ice declared, enjoying the conversation a lot more when she hadn't already heard the same story twelve times. She sipped her iced mocha with a slight smirk on her face.

"You two get your butts up here **now**!" Dinah shouted out of the speakers of the intercom, annoyed voice practically shaking the whole Watchtower.

"Well, maybe you're right about the mission thing," Wally decided, jumping to his feet. He disappeared in a blur of red, heading in the direction of the monitoring womb.

"Hey, wait up!" Green Arrow raced after him, pounding footsteps against the floor echoing into the distance.

The winged warrior rolled her eyes, turning back to her salad.

Xxxxx

When Flash streaked into the monitoring womb, J'onn was waiting with Zatanna, Wildcat, and a very impatient Black Canary. "It took you long enough," she muttered. "Where's Oliver?"

"He's, uh, coming." Flash quickly scanned his memory to see if he could remember pulling some kind of prank that had involved Zatanna and Wildcat. He couldn't really think of anything, and slightly relaxed. Shayera was probably right about it just being a mission.

"He'd better be."

"We should probably hurry. Security won't delay them for very long, and they're going to get away if we don't get down there." Zatanna seemed more dressed up than normal, face freshly powdered and her costume was fancier than usual.

At that exact moment, Arrow came jogging into the room, eyes wide behind his mask. "Wait for a guy next time, Flash," he panted out.

"Are you ready for your mission?" J'onn asked them, not sounding very amused.

"Yeah," Wally mumbled with embarrassment, avoiding the Martian's chilly gaze.

"Captain Cold, Trickster, and Mirror Master are currently stealing tickets for the show that Zatanna was set to perform in Central City this afternoon," J'onn told them, moving his fingers agilely across the main computer's keyboard. "According to the security cameras, they've almost emptied out every single one of them. The guards are not really stopping them very well."

Flash snorted. "They're stealing tickets for a magic show? How lame is that?"

Zatanna looked offended. "I happen to put on quite a performance, Flash," she informed him icily.

"They obviously want the tickets to sell on the black market," Canary uttered, hands planted on her hips.

"Are we going to get this show on the road or stand around yakking?" Wildcat asked loudly, trying to sound tough. He was a little insecure sometimes, thinking that no one wanted him in the League since he was the oldest member.

"Let's go," Flash agreed with a shrug.

"We need to stop them and get everything back in order before the show later," Zatanna added worriedly, frowning slightly.

"Go down to the teleporters," J'onn said, pulling up the controls for the teleportation pad on the computer screen. He quickly sent the coordinates for the old theater where the crime was being committed down to the technician manning the pad. It would save time, so that the heroes wouldn't have to explain to him where they wanted to go.

Flash sped over and waited while the others followed him, tapping one foot against the floor. Now that he knew that something was happening in his city, he was more than ready to get down there. Once his four teammates had joined him, the technician activated the teleporter. All of them felt the familiar sensation of their molecules being torn apart, then banding snugly back together. There was a bright explosion of blue light, and then the Leaguers appeared down in Central City.

"Wow, this place is sure something," Green Arrow announced, glancing around at the fancy theater built up around them as he tried to get orientated again. The ceiling was made of golden carvings, and the seats stretched out below them were a soft red. The long curtain on the stage where they were standing was heavy red velvet.

"Looks like something from Gotham," Wildcat said, looking around.

"Listen!" Dinah cocked her head to one side, a strand of blond hair draping itself into her eyes. "I hear someone talking."

"Who is-" Zatanna began, tensing as she waited for the villains' inevitable attack.

Suddenly, she was interrupted as Mirror Master and Trickster came crashing through the wall, sheetrock splintering around their limp bodies with the force of the impact. They were accompanied by a shrill scream that sounded much like Dinah's Canary Cry. Only, she wasn't doing it. Everyone was forced to cover their ears to block out the sonic shriek as it assaulted them. It finally stopped, after a few seconds.

"What's going on?" Canary cried in confusion.

"That's what we're going to find out!" Flash ran off to stage, around the empty seats, and through the large hole in the far wall. He heard the others start after them, but didn't pause to wait for them to catch up.

A guy in his late teens or early twenties was holding Captain Cold by his shirtfront, punching him in the face. He was wearing a dark green and black costume with two lighter green lightning bolts shooting up the front. A large watch was strapped to one arm. He had ruffled black hair, and a dark smirk on his face.

"Hey, hey! Don't **kill** him!" Flash blurred over and jerked the two apart. Cold fell limply to the ground, then sat up and covered his nose with one hand. Blood was streaming down, and the villain started cursing loudly.

"He was trying to steal tickets or something from here, and you took forever to show up," the youth said importantly, glaring at the speedster before him. "I mean, how lame is that? Who in the black market would want to buy tickets to a magic show when there are jewels and paintings and stuff like that out there?"

"Wow, that's exactly what I said," the Fastest Man Alive realized.

"My wife loves Zatanna! I was getting them for her!" Cold moaned pathetically, blood trickling between his fingers.

The person in black and green smirked. "Well, you're just lucky that I happened to be here. They were about to get away, dude."

Flash frowned with confusion. "Uh…who are you exactly?"

"What's going on?" Arrow came rushing over, finally reaching them. Wildcat, Zatanna, and Canary were right on his heels. He did a double take, staring at the newcomer. "Who the heck are you?"

"I can't really tell you." He glanced down at his watch, muttering angrily under his breath. "Well, I've gotta go. Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. Bye, Grandpa. Bye, Zatanna. Oh, and bye to you too, Mr. Arrow. Catch ya later!" He blurred away in a streak of green and black.

There was a long silence.

Zatanna raised her hand before speaking. "Um…what just happened?"


	3. What The?

Time in the theater seemed to stop in the wake of the strange teen vigilante's departure as expressions of shock mixed with other emotions were exchanged among the five heroes sent to stop the robbery.

"Um, did that guy just call Me, Canary, and Wildcat, 'Dad,' 'Mom,' and 'Grandpa?' Cause if he did, I think I'm gonna freak out!" Flash exclaimed looking like he was freaking out already.

"I think he did, Flash," Green Arrow answered. He not only seemed confused, but also a little offended. That kid, whoever he had been, had not only almost forgotten to say 'bye' to him, but had also had the nerve to call _his_ girlfriend and his best friend "mom and dad." Admittedly it wasn't so much what he said as the implication. That the kid was proof Dinah had cheated on him. It had made him feel like chopped liver. He didn't even **like** liver!

"That little punk _did_ call me 'Grandpa', didn't he?" Wildcat growled. He really didn't like being reminded of his age, especially in that manner. He wasn't **that** old yet.

"Shut up, Wildcat. We got more important things to discuss right now," Dinah told him. She was trying to keep a level head.

"Yeah, I agree with Black Canary," Zatanna said. "I think we should question Captain Cold."

Captain Cold was trying to crawl away, while they were talking. His nose was still bleeding a little bit.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Wildcat, who was still mad and thought it'd be fun to take it out on this joker.

"I was going to check on my… teammates," said Cold after a brief moment. He didn't know what else to call Trickster and Mirror Master. They weren't friends, but they weren't enemies. Teammates seemed to work at the moment.

"No, really. Where were you going?" Wildcat questioned gruffly, clearly not believing him.

"I just told you! Do you need a hearing aid or something? Despite what you so-called 'heroes' think, some of us villains _do_ have a sense of loyalties!" Cold retorted fiercely, still trying to stop the bleeding.

"What did you say, you little-?" Wildcat began.

"You hear me you 'Golden Age' piece of trash!" Captain Cold said fearlessly.

The whole time this is going on, the rest of the group had been watching with bewildered looks on their faces. It wasn't often that anybody ever talked trash to Wildcat like that. Not to mention someone who had already had the stuffings knocked outta them no more than five minutes ago.

"You _trying_ to pick a fight with me, Cold?" Wildcat demanded.

"Ha! What would be the point? If I fought you right now, I'd have murder charges on top of the ones for armed robbery. Why would I want more charges? Besides, _Grandpa, _you'd be too _easy_ to beat up. Now, your pretty 'daughter' on the other hand, she could put up a fight." Captain Cold mocked with a sneering laugh.

"THAT DOES IT!" Wildcat roared, making a move to beat Captain Cold within an inch of his life.

Surprising to him, Cold got up and got into a fighting stance, bloody nose and all. Normally the guy insulting him would either back away, or start cowering in fear when he started walking towards them like this. He was about to throw his first punch when Black Canary got in between them.

"That enough from both of you!" she said. "Cold! You have two choices to make. One, you can tell us what we want to know, or two, I can beat it outta you." She said it with piercing eyes. Much to her surprise, Captain Cold didn't flinch like others usually did. He just stood his ground, and sneered.

"Well my dear, what is it you'd like to know?" he asked her in a mock politeness.

"Uh…?" Black Canary was caught by surprise by him taking option one, and that was all she could say.

"I said, what would you like to know?" he repeated.

"What Black Canary was trying to say, Cold, is why were you and the other Rogues trying to steal tickets to one of _my_ shows?" Zatanna asked in a stern tone.

After staring for a few moments, Cold answered her question. "My wife, for whatever reason, likes your shows. We didn't have the money to buy the tickets, since you charge SO much for them, so I did what other villains do when we can't afford something: I stole them. I don't know why she likes you so much. As far as I'm concerned your _father_ was much better. Ah! Good old Giovanni Zatara. I miss him," he finished folding his arms.

At first it looked like Cold's remark about her father being a better magician stunned the Mistress of magic. Then her eyes began to water and before anyone could react, she covered her face with her hands and began crying.

No one had really expected her to react that way, and Green Arrow went right to her side and put his arms around her.

"Look what you did Cold!" he scolded.

Dinah looked slightly jealous at this motion.

"Well, how was I supposed to know she'd cry? I thought all the girls on that Watchtower of yours were 'big girls' and that insults didn't work on them," he argued in his defense. "Not **my** fault that she couldn't handle the truth!" he finished.

Green Arrow was about to say something, but then-

"I…it's okay, Arrow. He's right. We're supposed to be able to handle these things. With that, she removed herself from his arms and went right up to Cold. Nobody knew what she was going to do, least of all the frosty villain. It was a real mind-blower when she hugged him tightly.

"Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?" Cold exploded in shock.

"I thought I was the only one who knew my father was better than me!" she bawled out into his parka.

"That's nice, now let **go**!" he told her, obliviously not enjoying the situation.

Her only response was to hug him tighter.

"In that case-" he said, right before he lowered his cold gloved hands to her butt and gave it a nice big squeeze.

Zatanna yelped in surprise and backed away her face redder than Flash's costume. "Why did you do that?" she whined.

"To get you offa me! You may have liked it, and maybe I did too, but my wife wouldn't have liked it. Which reminds me, I **must** kill Heat Wave next time I see him," he declared in a determined tone.

"Why do you want to kill Heat Wave for, Cold? I thought you guys were buddies?" asked Flash, who had been silent the whole time. He'd been thinking about the mysterious speedster they had encountered.

"He introduced us." Cold answered in a tired, nonchalant tone.

"Oh. Hey, that reminds me. Where _is_ Heat Wave, anyways? I haven't seen him since Darkseid tried to take over the Earth a few months back," Flash wondered aloud when he suddenly realized he hadn't seen his fiery foe for quite some time.

"I think he's still with those Secret Society guys. He knows I still haven't forgiven him for what he did," Cold answered.

"What did he do?" Flash asked with wide eyes.

"He married my sister," he replied angrily.

"I didn't know you had a sister!" Flash exclaimed with surprise.

"**Flash! Everybody! We are getting off topic, here!**" Black Canary, who had been watching the whole thing had had enough of all the nonsense and was fed up with it. It was very much like a soap opera.

"Cold, if you tell us what you know about that weird guy that called me 'mom' we promise to let you and the others go," she told him sweetly. She knew should wouldn't, but at this point she was too tired and angry to care.

"We do?" Flash muttered, elbowing her in the side. "Supes and Bats would totally kill us, Dinah," he added nervously.

"I know," she muttered back from the side of her mouth. "That's just what I'm telling him to make him talk."

"Ah."

"I trained her, you know," Wildcat announced proudly.

"Just don't let the Boy Scout know that you lied," Arrow declared merrily.

"And I'll get you all free tickets, too!" Zatanna added cheerfully.

"Whatever! Shut up, all of you! Talk, Cold!" Dinah ordered all of them angrily, her last nerve snapping. "OW!" This last was said in reaction to the backhanded slap Cold had given her.

"Calm down!" he said in a commending voice after hitting her.

"Okay. Okay, I'm good. Thanks. Now will you please tell us what you know about him?" Black Canary asked after she calmed down, secretly thankful he had slapped her.

"There's not much to tell, really. He just came in, stole our weapons, tossed them across the room, and proceeded to beat us up like we were punching bags. When Trickster and Mirror Master went after their weapons he used his…Canary Cry, I guess. He sent them right through the wall. After that he started punching the crap outta me. Flash can tell you the rest." He explained the best he could, refolding his arms as he finished.

The heroes were hoping to find out more about the strange person who had taken out the rogues and used both Flash's and Dinah's powers, but no luck.

"Can I go now?" Cold asked in a tone that was both tired and bored.

"Sure, just hurry," Canary said smoothly, smirking.

As Cold turned to leave, looking mystified by the heroes' strange behavior, Zatanna came up behind him and tapped his shoulder. She handed him four tickets to her next show, which he took with a smile and thanks. Then Wildcat punched him in the face, as the sound of police sirens filled the air outside.

"Well that got us nowhere," Oliver said with a sigh.

"Maybe J'onn will have an answer?" Flash put in his two cents. "He's a telepath, after all."

"I hope so, Flash. I hope so." Black Canary put her face against her right hand as she messaged her temples with her hand.

"This is Wildcat. Beam us up, Scotty. Heh, heh, I've always wanted to say that," Wildcat said, laughing at his own joke.

They then felt the same familiar tingle as teleported back to the Watch Tower where they **hoped** they would find some answers.


	4. Explanations

The five heroes appeared on the teleporter pad, blinking to clear the annoying blue spots coating their vision. The Man of Steel was beckoning to them from the monitoring deck just overhead, one hand resting heroically on his hip. He looked like he was posing for a photograph or something. Well, that was Superman. Always the perfect hero.

Flash sped to the elevator across from the teleporter pad, then held the doors open and tapped his foot impatiently while the others followed him more slowly. "Come on, guys. Supes probably wants us to fill out a report or something," he announced, rolling his eyes under his mask. Filling out reports on every single mission he went on was one of his least favorite tasks.

"Not that we'll have much to tell him about this mission," Oliver said, depressed. "Except that some kid stopped the bad guys before we could even get there, then acted like he knew us." He was still slightly annoyed that whoever the kid had been, he'd almost forgot to say "bye" to him, after saying "goodbye" to all the others like he had.

"And that Captain Cold is a stuck-up-" Wildcat began gruffly, crossing his arms.

"Actually, that's a lot to tell him," Dinah interrupted quickly, shooting her mentor a pointed look as the elevator started to move upwards. "Didn't any of you notice that whoever he was, he had my and Flash's powers?"

"Oh, yeah," Wally mused, frowning a little as he thought this fact over. "Plus, he called you and me… his parents." He looked quickly over at his pranking partner, who was glaring fiercely at him. Green Arrow obviously didn't like thinking about his girlfriend having a possible kid with someone else. Flash gulped nervously.

"And what was his problem, calling me 'Grandpa'? I'm not **that** old!" Ted complained loudly.

The translucent glass doors glided smoothly and soundlessly open, and the Leaguers stepped out. Mr. Terrific was hard at work on a crossword puzzle on one computer screen, while J'onn watched over several missions. Superman was waiting for them, arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey, Supes." Flash sped over to Mr. T., boots squeaking on the slick floor. "What's up, T.?"

"Nothing really, Flash. What's a seven-letter word for a composition that imitates or misrepresents someone's style?" the hero asked him, looking absorbed in his puzzle.

"Uh…is it…'no clue' with an exclamation point at the end?" the Scarlet Speedster guessed, clearly not knowing.

"Never mind. It definitely has to be 'lampoon'. Why didn't I think of that before?" the genius muttered, typing the word out.

"So, what happened on your mission?" Superman asked. "You should start writing out reports for the files."

"_Told you so," _Flash mouthed at Canary.

She rolled her eyes back at him.

Green Arrow cleared his throat, looking jealous that she wasn't giving him any attention.

"Actually, something kind of weird happened," Zatanna spoke up, a puzzled frown on her pretty face. "The villains who were robbing my show were already stopped when we got down there."

"What?" 

"Some dude in a cool green and black costume was beating Captain Cold to a bloody pulp," Flash explained helpfully. "Hey, I think I just made a joke. Cool, Cold? Get it?"

Everyone ignored him.

"A vigilante?" Mr. Terrific wondered, exchanging a look with J'onn.

"That's just what we **don't** need. Some dissatisfied citizen who decides that he needs to take the law into his own hands," Superman sighed wearily.

"When we first showed up, he was blasting Trickster and Mirror Master through a wall with a Canary Cry," Green Arrow added. "Then he ran away at sonic speed. He looked like he was as fast as Flash."

"I don't think so Ollie. They don't call me the Fastest Man Alive for nothing," Flash boasted proudly cracking a smile.

"Let me get this straight. This person had Wally's and Dinah's powers?" Superman studied the two of them with intense scrutiny, looking slightly confused.

Wally shifted uncomfortably, imagination insisting that the Kryptonian was using his infamous ex-ray vision. "Uh…right, Supes," he answered a little nervously.

"It looks like this is not an ordinary dissatisfied citizen," J'onn mused softly in his thick Martian accent.

"Apparently," Terrific agreed, turning back to his crossword puzzle.

"That isn't even the weirdest part," Zatanna put in. "The boy said something strange before he ran off."

"What did he say?" Superman questioned.

"Uh…something like, 'Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. Bye, Grandpa. Bye, Zatanna. Oh, and bye to you too, Mr. Arrow.'" Flash quoted it perfectly, raising one eyebrow under his mask as he spoke.

There was a small silence.

"Flash, I'm serious," Superman reprimanded him after a moment. "I need to know what he really said. It could be important, and we can use it to figure out who he was."

"Did he mention his name?" J'onn inquired.

"I'm serious, too, Supes," Flash retorted with a scowl. "That's exactly what he said. Really. I swear on a Lightspeed Energy Bar!" He looked at his other teammates for help.

"Flash-" Superman began.

"He's right, Superman. That's what he said," Zatanna interrupted, nodding to empathize it.

"Now I've heard everything," Mister Terrific announced, fingers typing in another answer on his puzzle.

"He said it just like that," Oliver agreed. "His voice sounded exactly like Wally's."

"So you mean to tell me that he called you all family of his?" Superman's tone was incredulous. _I haven't heard anything about Flash and Black Canary having a kid together. And gossip usually manages to circulate in no time around here…_

"Yeah. He called me his **dad**!" Flash stabbed a thumb against the lightning bolt logo on his chest, eyes round. "And Dinah his **mom**. Creepy, huh?" 

Canary elbowed him in the side with a glare that would rival even Batman's. "It might be best for you to stop talking now."

"Yes, ma'am!" he squeaked.

"What do you think this means, J'onn?" Superman asked the Martian.

"I'm not sure. Why didn't you follow him, Flash?" he asked.

"Uh…because I was kind of shell shocked?" Wally tried to make the excuse sound plausible, but failed miserably. He didn't want to mention that the kid, whoever he had been, had seemed to be even faster than he would ever even dream of being.

"Really," Arrow said dubiously, not seeming convinced.

"We'll have to keep an eye out for him in case he shows up again," Superman vowed. "Why don't all of you type out your take on the situation, while I go talk to some of the others about what happened." He lifted off the floor and shot away in a blur of blue and red.

xxxxx

Zatanna met up with Dr. Light, Fire, and Ice in the cafeteria, where Fire and Dr. Light were eating light lunches. "Hi," she greeted them, placing her tray on the round table and sitting down.

"Where have you been?" Ice asked curiously, not in a mean way. "I thought the three of us were supposed to meet here for lunch an hour ago."

"So did I, actually," Dr. Light admitted. "Did you change the time or something?"

"No, I had a mission with Flash, Arrow, Canary, and Wildcat. Sorry that I'm late." She sipped her iced mocha gratefully, relishing its cold taste.

"Flash? He's so handsome," Fire sighed dreamily, Brazilian accent sounding exotic.

"You should tell him how you feel," Dr. Light instructed her fiery friend. "Maybe he feels the same."

"I don't think so. He could have his pick of any other woman. Why would he want **me**?" Bea said sadly, picking at her salad with a pouting frown.

"You should try at least," Ice told her friend, looking over as Flash himself strolled in and headed over to get his second lunch of the day. "You don't give yourself enough credit sometimes, Bea."

"Thanks, Tora," the green-haired hero smiled, greatful for her friend's encouragement.

"So, what happened on your mission, Zatanna?" Dr. Light quizzed.

"Basically, some kid with Flash's and Black Canary's powers showed up and called them his parents." Zatanna summed it up in a nutshell.

Hoshi's lips formed an 'O' of surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Wouldn't someone have noticed if Dinah had been pregnant with Wally's kid for nine months?" Tora spoke quietly, leaning forward over the table as she gossiped.

"That's the thing. I doubt that he was really their kid. Both of them looked clueless when he said that," Zatanna told them.

"I wish I could have gone," Bea said wistfully. "I bet that was definitely something to see."

"Zatanna, come back to the monitoring deck right away," Mr. Terrific announced over the intercom. "Dr. Fate and Inza, please report as well."

"What? You have to be kidding me." Zatanna said in shock. The sorceress' shoulders slumped. "I just finished a mission. They'd better not be giving me another one so soon."

"I guess we'll have to reschedule our lunch for tomorrow," Dr. Light said with a shrug. "Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it." With a sigh, Zatanna stood and headed back to the monitoring room.


	5. Jinxed

**(A/N) SO sorry about the long wait between updates. Long story short, my computer crashed and I lost**_** ALL **_**my files. Luckily I was able to save several of the Family Feud chapters thanks to my great co-author Churnok, but unfortunately we still lost 2 chapters. Chapters 6 and 7 were lost so the next update will take a little while. Till then please enjoy this Halloween update. Sorry again**

Zatanna got up out of her chair, feeling like she weighed a ton. She had just sat down to lunch with three of her friends after one strange mission and she really didn't want to go on another one. But, based on the not so terrific tone of Mr. Terrific's voice on the tower's PA, she was sure that's exactly what she was going to have to do once she got to the monitoring deck.

"Hey, Zee, can I come?"

Zatanna turned to see who asked, and saw Fire waiting for her answer.

"Uh, why do you want to come Fire?" she asked.

"Well from what you said about your last mission, I was hoping to see something like that happen on this one, and I want to be there." Answered the green haired Brazilian bombshell.

"Uh huh." Zatanna said with a raised eyebrow. "Sure, if you want to, come on."

Fire got up and followed her to the monitoring deck. When they got thee Dr. Fate and his wife Inza were waiting for them.

"So what is it _this_ time?" asked Zatanna in a cranky tone.

"I sensed a great magical disturbance and require your assistance." answered Dr. Fate with his soft, but attention commanding voice.

"What kind of disturbance?" asked Fire.

"We're not sure Beatriz, but whatever it is, it has incredible magical abilities." The soft spoken Inza answered.

"Do you know anything at all about it Fate?" questioned Zatanna, who didn't like the sound of something with _that_ much magical power.

"Not much, just that the magic is coming from a person. We're not sure if it's a demon, Mordru , or someone else, but whoever it is, we need to check it out." said the golden helmeted sorcerer.

Zatanna heard everything Dr. Fate had said, and understood what he meant, but she couldn't help but let her mind wander. She tried to deny it, but she knew deep down, that she had a thing for the centuries old magician. The attraction had caused more than a few _naughty_ dreams too. She figured it had something to do with how he commanded the attention of everyone in the room with his voice alone, but at the same time didn't scare anyone. Sometimes she wished that he were single, so she could ask him out. "Right Fate, we need to get down there and find out who this person is and what their doing." Said Zatanna with a new sense of determination. "Mr. Terrific, teleport us down there now." She finished.

"No need. I can do it and spare you the trouble." Said Fate, and with a wave of his hands she had teleported himself, Inza, Zatanna, Fire, and Booster Gold to where the disturbance was located- Nanda Parbat.

"Mind warning me the next time you magic me somewhere without my permission?" asked the glory seeking hero, who didn't like being pulled out of his game of poker he was wining with Blue Devil. Not to mention the fact that he had been sitting down when Fate's spell grabbed him and the sudden absence of a chair had dropped him in the dirt.

"I am sorry, Michael, but we needed your futuristic technology for this mission." Answered Dr. Fate without looking at him.

Booster Gold grumbled a little bit under his breath as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Aw, don't feel bad Michael, at least you have something to do now." Fire said, trying to make him feel better. "After all, isn't a mission more fun than whatever it was you were doing?" she asked.

"Not when you have a 50 bucks winning hand it's not." he answered, still mad.

"Whatever just get your head in the game." Zatanna told him already tired with his attitude. "We have work to do."

Booster Gold was still a little mad, but knew she was right, so he started to focus on the mission. "So, anybody want to tell me what is it we're supposed to be doing?" he asked, trying to be helpful.

"We're investigating a disturbance that happens to be a person with enormous magical powers." Inza informed him.

"Okay, but where do me and Bea fit in here? You three are the magic users, so what good are we?" He asked, confused as to why he and Fire were there.

"Fire can cause a distraction, and your technology will be helpful to us." Fate answered.

"How will my future tech be helpful?" Booster asked.

"Since you technology is from the future, and very well made, it'll be hard for the person we're looking for to detect it. Whoever they are, they'd be able to detect my, Inza's, or Zatanna's magic, so your 'tech' will be most helpful." Fate told him in monotone.

"Oh. Cool!" Booster Gold, liked the feeling of being more useful than someone like Fate, for once. "Okay, I'll get right on tracking our perp. Skeets! I need a- hey! Where's Skeets?" Booster yelled, just realizing that his gold robot sidekick was not with him.

"Must have forgotten him. I'll bring him here in a sec." said Fate, seeing he had forgotten something, or someone, by the look of Booster's reaction. With that he waved his left hand and then, in the blink of an eye, Skeets was there with them.

"Sir! I thought I lost you!" yelled the hovering, gold robot, which had rushed to his 'owner's' side in less than a second.

"I was a little worried myself Skeets. Do you think you could do a scan of the area and find any kind of magical whatevers?" asked the blond hero, getting back into form quickly, just with an odd request. Skeets seemed to understand him though as he rotated and scanned the area for any unusual energy. Then he pointed his body towards the direction of where the magic was- the temple where the Secret Society attacked a few months back.

"Kay! Let's go!" Booster Gold said, taking the lead with a big smile.

Zatanna leaned over to Fate and whispered, "Do we _really_ need his help?"

"No. Just his robot's help, but they are a package deal." He answered.

Zatanna tried not to laugh, but it still got out.

"Was it that funny?" Fate asked.

"Little bit yeah." She answered, smiling fondly.

"HEY! Hurry up you two, or whoever we're looking will be gone before we get there!" Booster Gold yelled.

Zatanna and Dr. Fate looked at each other, and not saying anything just fallowed him into the temple grounds.

"Oh my God! What happened here?" Exclaimed Fire, covering her mouth with her hands.

No one knew what happened, but they could see the results. The temple was just fine, but all the monks were laid out, either unconscious or dead. They were scattered all throughout the temple. Hanging from the roof, sprawled out on the floor, dumped in a pile, or lying in positions that made it look like they could have permanent injuries. It was a pretty gruesome site for the heroes.

"Everybody spread out, but be careful." Instructed Dr. Fate. Everyone did as they were told, Zatanna went around the left side of the temple, Fire powered up and flew into the sky to see if she could spot anyone, Fate started casting a spell to see if the monks were still alive, while Inza went around the right side of the temple, and Booster Gold and Skeet's went inside the temple to see what they could find.

"Did you see the way those monks were laid out Skeets?" he asked.

"Yes and it looked more than a little uncomfortable." The tiny robot answered.

"You think? Man I wonder how powerful this guy is? Do you have any ideas Skee-" Booster Gold was cut off as a beautiful girl walked out from behind a podium. She had an unusual look, almost _unnatural_ actually. She looked to be in her late teens. Wearing a "Goth" like outfit that made her look like an extra for one of the witches from the "Hocus Pocus" movie. Her thigh high boots were black on top, but with purple soles. Her pants were also purple, but with some black steaks going up a certain parts. Her shirt looked like it was oversized since it went past her waist, making it look like a dress. With long black sleeves that ended a little past her hands, and the top of the shirt, where her chest and shoulders were, was purple, but it wasn't her clothes that made her stand out. Her skin was _grey_ and she had pink hair done up in what looked like either horns, or the arms of a slingshot, with black circles partway down separating the points from the base. Lastly her eye color was pink, with what looked like cat-like pupils.

All in all, she looked weird to Booster Gold. Hot, but weird.

"Uh, who are you?' he tactfully asked.

"I'm Jinx. Nice to meet you." She answered kindly in a voice that was more valley girl than Goth.

"Uh huh." Said Booster, confused that she gave him a straight answer. He then noticed she was caring a glowing yellow orb that looked powerful.

"Stop her!" Yelled an unseen voice.

"Who?" blurted out the golden hero not seeing who had talked.

"Don't look you idiot, just stop that crazy bitch!" the unseen voice said again, just using profanity this time.

The glory seeking hero looked up and saw that the ghost that had come to the Justice League for help when this temple had been attacked by the Secret Society. Deadman. Michael was surprised, since from what he had been told, Deadman was suppose to be invisible and couldn't be heard unless he possessed someone. He was floating in the air, and tied up in some sort of magical restraints that looked like purple spaghetti. Michael quickly turned back to the pink haired intruder and got ready for a fight, but he was surprised to see that she had moved. He looked around for her franticly, not wanting to be attacked from behind.

"Sir! Help me!" yelled Skeets in fear.

Michael looked in the direction of the scream and saw, with some amusement, that the girl was running around the temple trying to catch Skeets with the orb magically fallowing her. She looked like a child trying to catch her pet like it was a game. Only it seemed like 'Jinx' was the only one enjoying the game.

"Do you think you could stop that please?" he asked. "My friend doesn't like to be chased."

"Oookaaaay." She said and pouted a little bit. "But he's such a **cute** little robot. I just want to hug him." She said.

"Yeah, well I don't want to be hugged!" yelled Skeets.

"Well too bad! Come here!" She said trying to catch him again.

Michael just watched them for a little while, wishing he had some popcorn and a beer, so he could really enjoy the show, but then he heard a familiar, angry voice. "

What are you doing? I said stop her you stupid excuse for a hero! God! Were you dropped on your head or something?" insulted Deadman.

"You know dead-dude, you really shouldn't insult the person you want to help you." Michael said, not liking being insulted by the ghost.

By this time Jinx had stopped chasing Skeets to look at the other members of the League that had finished their explorations, and came to see what was taking Booster Gold so long to report back to them.

"What's going on here?" asked Zatanna.

"And who's that?" Asked Fire, pointing at Jinx.

"I guess its time for me to go. Bye Booster. Bye Fire. Bye Inza. Bye dead, mean, floating guy. Bye cute tiny gold robot. Bye Mom. Bye Dad. I gotta go! Nruter ot esab!" She said all at once and disappeared with the orb.

Just like an hour ago, there were five _very_ confused heroes standing around in silence, not knowing what happened. After a minute Zatanna yelled, "Ahh man! Not again!" and hit her forehead.


	6. Silent Rage

**Silent Rage**

"Grandpa!" the young spell caster known as Jinx called as she skipped into the darkened command center of the mobile base she and her friends called home. The orb she had stolen floating along beside her

"Ah, Jinx. I trust your outing was fruitful?" came a voice from the shadows.

"Yup." The orb floated over to his waiting hands. "The monks put up a fight, and that dead guy was annoying, but I won the orb and even got to see Mom and Dad before I left."

"You did? Good," he said with a touch of amusement as he examined the orb.

At that moment one of the servants entered. She was dressed in a traditional French maid's outfit though her pink skin indicated an alien origin. "Master. If Miss Jinx is finished with her mission she has lessons for today."

"Do I have to?" Jinx whined.

"Miss Jinx, you can't expect to become a successful hero without a good education," the servant said in a firm but gentle tone.

"Given how well Jinx did on her mission Miss Kat, I think we can allow her the rest of the day to play with her… pet."

"As you wish Master," Miss Kat said with a bow as Jinx squealed in delight.

"Thank you Grandpa!" Jinx said as she hugged him and ran off.

"Miss Kat. Tell Rex that the power source I promised him will soon be ready."

"At once Master," Miss Kat bowed and left.

Her master chuckled. His plans were going better than expected. Inertia's thwarting of Flash's rogues may have accelerated things a bit, but he had always intended for the heroes to meet their children. Now he had the first component of his greatest creation and the League knew of two of his young charges. No doubt that was already causing friction among their ranks. Soon they would be too distracted by this tabloid scheme to figure out his true plan until it was too late to stop him. "Now if I could only listen in as they discuss this latest 'bundle of joy.' Are they already wondering about the others waiting in the wings?" He chuckled again as he prepared the orb for the two uses he had in mind for it. The League had no idea what was in store, and soon the remains of the Legion would also be brought into his diverting little game.

* * *

The debriefing was held soon after the team got back from the Nanda Parbat temple and proved to be as much a disaster as the mission had been. Part of the problem was the video download provided by Skeets and Booster Gold's attempts to "reinterpret" the video in a way that made him look good. Deadman voicing his irate opinion via one of the founders as a host body didn't help matters either.

"Thank you Booster," Superman said. As much to stop the verbal fight as anything. "Have Skeets download everything into the central computer for further review later." He turned to the three magic users. "Anything you three have to add?"

"Just that the child, if she was a child, had a formidable amount of magic at her command," Fate said from his strategic seat between Zatanna and his wife Inza. The parting words of the purple haired girl had caused some friction between the two. "Though I wonder how much control she had over it."

"Could you explain?" Batman inquired.

"Certainly. The magic she used on the monks, though effective, was relatively crude. I suppose fighting styles would be as good an analogy as any. Zatanna could be called a master of some of the more common styles of magic, the equivalent of karate you could say. Inza and I are masters of styles that are less well known and require more discipline. All three of us learned from masters. Jinx is an amateur street fighter. Considerable natural skill, but she learned from someone other than a master."

"What, she learned magic from watching Charmed?" Booster scoffed.

"Clam up Goldilocks. What that brat hit me with didn't come from a TV show so why don't you let the grownups talk," Deadman said from Flash's mouth.

"Actually Booster may not be as far off as you think," Zatanna stated before the hero from the future could rise respond to Deadman's insult. "Much of the residual magic we found while freeing Deadman and helping the monks recover seemed off. As if she got the right answer with the wrong process and using more power than needed. Like when I did magic based only on what I had seen my father do in his shows."

"An interesting point," Fate said thoughtfully. Not noticing the brief glare Inza gave him. "Suffice it to say, she defeated the monks more through power than skill. Despite this, she did refrain from killing them."

"Came damn near close," Deadman muttered.

"I'm not saying otherwise, but I'm fairly certain she had no malicious intent when she took the orb. If we're finished here I managed to save a sample of the restraints used to hold Deadman and would like to see if Inza and I can use it to locate her."

"Very Well Fate. You and your wife may go," J'onn said. "Let us know if you find anything of use."

"Of course. And Deadman. If you could come by my home when the League is done with you I have a few questions of my own."

"You got it Doc."

Fate and Inza got up to leave. The rest of their team following soon after stating that they had nothing more to add at the moment.

"Man. Who was it that invited that glory boy into this club of yours?" Deadman quipped as the door closed.

"Your host body," Batman stated with subtle humor. "Now can you give us some more information on how a young girl defeated the temple and tied you up?"

* * *

Hey you two. Wait up!" Zatanna called after the sourcerous spouses as she and Fire ran to catch up. "I was wondering if we could all have lunch and talk about what happened at the temple."

"Thank you, but we really must be going home," Inza's words all but dripped ice.

"Now dear we shouldn't be rude," Fate countered. "The tracking spell can wait and I think we should clear up a few things." He took off his helmet. "Besides, magic is easier on a full stomach and I hear they're serving Chinese food today. You'll love their General Tso's Chicken." The look he received made it clear that it would take more than spicy chicken to melt her icy demeanor. He hastily turned back to Zatanna. "Will Booster be joining us?"

"Nah," Fire said with a shrug. "He already ate and said something about updating his blog so his fans would know about his latest heroic exploits." The heroes exchanged looks.

"Then we may actually be able to have a conversation." Fate smirked as they made their way to the cafeteria. Though the self styled hero from the future had earned some respect as a hero and was considered a good friend by many league members, Booster Gold could be long winded at times. Particularly when he was trying to cover a mistake.

"What I don't get is why she looked the way she did," Fire stated as she ate her salad and tried not to stare at the helmet floating over the middle of the table as it turned to face whoever spoke. "I mean hair can be colored and I've seen stranger hairdos than the horns she was wearing. Heck, I've had stranger back when I was a model. But her skin was gray and I'm betting those weren't contacts she was wearing."

"Probably a side effect of the process of how she was made," Zatanna replied as she speared a piece of shrimp and dipped it in sweet & sour sauce.

"Are you saying she isn't who she claims to be?" despite the heat and spice of the food she was eating, Inza's words remained cold. An ominous tremor shook the table and everything on it began to levitate slightly. Fate seemed to exchange a worried look with his helmet. They had been talking over their respective meals for awhile and his wife's demeanor was stating to bleed into her magic

"Of course. You know your husband would never cheat on you," Zatanna stated in her best reassuring tone.

"Do I?" The items on the table floated higher and there was the sound of bending metal as the table strained against the bolts holding it to the floor. "I thought I did. But lately he's been working more and more with the league. And now I think I know why." She glared politely at Zatanna, the way the wife of a movie star might glare at his mistress during a public social event, and took another bite of chicken as if her plate hadn't risen halfway up to her mouth.

"Inza. Calm down," her husband requested as firmly as he dared while his helmet floated back onto his head.

"I am perfectly calm," she said evenly though as she said this, her meal companions, and their chairs, joined their meals in floating higher and higher off the floor. Catching the attention of Blue Devil and several other heroes save for Plastic Man and Elongated Man. Who were too busy arguing over who had the better stretching ability to notice the situation that their fellow heroes were watching like an oncoming storm. "Can't you hear how calm I am?" The table gave a final metal shriek as it torn free and sent all but Inza's plate flying in the process. Fate's eggroll fell to the floor just outside the area affected by his wife's suppressed temper. She chewed and swallowed another bite before continuing. "Any other wife would be screaming after meeting the child her husband had with another woman, the proof of his infidelity, but I have yet to raise my voice on this matter." The affected area expanded to include the eggroll and several of the vending machines.

"Yes, your voice is remarkably calm," Fate said in his best reassuring tone as everything and everyone began to slowly spin. "But the iced mocha machine is now floating. Try to put everything down gently and we can talk about this."

"Talk?" Inza glared openly at her husband of several hundred years. The vending machines pulled free of their outlets and the table began to spin like a saw as it aimed for him. Other tables had begun to twist and shift against their bolts in an effort to join it. The other heroes in the cafeteria were trying, with limited success, to stay out of the expanding field of influence. The two stretching heroes found their argument interrupted by the realization that they were now among the floaters and their panicked attempts to save each other resulted in a superhero knot that sent them bouncing deeper into the affected area. "_I_ wanted to talk about this at home. But _you_ wanted to have lunch with this floozy of a birthday party magician!"

"Just because I dress for show biz does not make me a floozy!" Zatanna shouted back before casting her spell. Etagen cigam!" Suddenly, everything that had been floating fell to the floor with some of the floating heroes landing on each other. Inza rocked back in her chair as if slapped by the counter spell while the table rolled away. "And as for the birthday party magician crack," Zatanna continued as she got up off the floor, "I have friends who make a living that way so don't knock it until you've survived a pack of four year olds on a sugar high."

"Zatanna, I really wish you hadn't done that," Fate said as he levitated to his feet.

"Somebody had to do something. I figured you had a better chance of talking to her with both feet on the floor and I was going to hurl if we spun any longer."

"Yes, but now it's going to be even harder to calm her down."

"INCHOIR NEVAKA!" Inza shouted as crimson energy shot from her hands to send Zatanna flying towards the cafeteria window. The impact would have broken several bones had the elongated plastic man ball not bounced into her flight path and cushioned it. The mistress of magic would still be spending a few days in the medical center though. Fire powered up, but Fate held up his hand.

"This is between me and my wife," he stated, the added resonance effect of his helmet adding more weight to his words. "Interfere and we'll have more people hurt."

"You always were gallant Kent," Inza observed coldly. "Or are you just trying to protect another of the women you've been eyeing?" She lashed out with a whip of magic which Fate blocked with his own magic. "Don't bother trying to deny it! I've seen the way you look at the other women here but I always thought I could trust you! Will I see any more of your spawn?"

She paused in her screaming to catch her breath and Fate took advantage of that moment to run over and grab her in a hug. She screamed and fought for a minute before collapsing in his arms. Fate gently rocked her and made soothing noises. "I thought that by talking to your friends over lunch that you would realize you had nothing to worry about. I'm sorry for everything I've done that has caused you pain," he said as he shifted his grip to be more comfortable for both of them. "But I swear by the magic that flows through both of us that I have not been unfaithful." He held her at arm's length so he could look into her eyes. The helmet floating off his head so she could look into his. "I admit that I have looked at other women, but in the same way you have looked at other men. They may catch my eye for a moment, but you are the only one who could ever hold my heart."

"I should have more faith in you Kent," she said through tears. "But I find that I cannot." He let her slip through his arms. "I do still love you. Perhaps that is why the girl's words cause me such pain. Until this is resolved I find I cannot bear to look at either you or Zatanna. When you return to the tower you shall find your bags already packed." With that she opened a portal and left. Closing the portal behind her.

Fate stared at the spot where the portal had been as if he could call her back by shear will and desperation. He had faced gods, demons, and creatures that were far beyond humanity's understanding of either. But he didn't think he could have faced half of them without her support.


	7. Flash's Bane

**Flash's Bane**

**(A/N)** **So sorry about the longer-than-expected wait everyone. A lot of sh** has gone down for me in the last year, but I'm back and here's the next chapter. Hope everyone likes it.**

It had been a few days since Inza's mess hall tantrum, which all who were there call "Magic Day" (or M-Day for short) and things had returned to normal. Zatanna wasn't hurt too badly from her collision with the Elongated-Plastic Man, but was still hurt enough that she had to stay in the medical bay for a couple of days. She would have left sooner had her old friend Batman not _made_ her stay to make sure she was 100% better before she left. The two stretchy heroes, Elongated Man and Plastic Man were fine despite the hours it took to untangle them. They were too sheepish to visit Zatanna while she was in the med bay though, but did send her flowers and chocolates.

Doctor Fate on the other hand wasn't doing so well. He had to move in with his friend Superman after he was kicked out of his home by his wife. He put up a convincing front but, even with his helmet on, it was clear to those who looked that he was emotionally devastated.

The league doubled its efforts to discover who these mystery kids were because of this incident. If more showed up, worse things than this could end up happening. At the moment one of the first "surprise parents" was in an argument with her angry boyfriend in a deserted corridor.

"Dinah, _please_ let me hurt him." Oliver, AKA Green Arrow pleaded with his girlfriend.

"No Oliver," Black Canary told him for what felt like the millionth time. Ever since that speedster they met in Central City, Oliver had been asking her if he could hurt Flash. It had become more than a little annoying by this point.

"Why not Dinah?" Green Arrow asked a bit through gritted teeth.

"Because it would be wrong Oliver and you know that," Black Canary answered with a sigh. "You know that Wally and I couldn't possibly be that kid's parents. He looks like he's in his early twenties and me and Wally are barely in our _late twenties_. See how that makes it impossible?" she continued in a cross tone. She would have normally answered in a gentler way, but after having this conversation for what felt like a million time her patience had been sapped.

Her anger and irritation got her point across though because Green Arrow decided to drop the subject. He also dropped his arms dejectedly and slouched a little bit. Feeling bad Dinah was about to say something to make him feel better, but before she could Flash came through one of the doors.

He saw the two of them, his eyes widening, in a comical way. He pointed to Black Canary, gave a girlish scream, and ran off at super speed. After staring at his after image for a little while Green Arrow relented, "Maybe I have been a little too mean to him lately."

Dinah groaned, "Everytime I try to talk to him he reacts like that," Black Canary said, putting her hand over her forehead, trying to stop her migraine. "Will you please lay off him for a little bit? At least long enough to tell him _I'm_ not mad at him," she almost pleaded with her boyfriend.

Feeling bad for her and all that this situation has put her through, Oliver's truer personality came out, "Okay Dinah. I'll lay off him till then."

"Thanks Ollie, I appreciate it," she said with a smile. It was the first time she had been able to smile since the whole thing with that mystery kid started, even without all the accusing looks she had been getting from the other leaguers. Why did everybody think she and Flash had a kid together? The idea of having a kid with Flash was, well… gross.

"No prob D." Oliver answered, pulling her into a hug. He was about to kiss her when he heard a gruff voice from behind.

"You know that's my daughter you're hugging right?" Wildcat asked, coming around the corner. For a deserted corridor it sure was getting a lot of people.

"Well Dinah, it's been nice talking to you but, uh, I have things I need to take care of in Star City. Talk again soon. See ya!" Green Arrow said while leaving. He had not forgotten the beating Wildcat gave him in the Meta Brawl, and decided it was best to split.

After he was gone Black Canary turned to her surrogate father. "Look at what you did! That was the first time in a while that we were able to have a moment since that kid showed up!" Black Canary said furiously to Wildcat, giving him a very angry glare.

"I was just playing around," he said, backing up. He didn't want to admit it but he knew his surrogate daughter was a better fighter than him now.

"Were you, or were you just trying to vent some anger over that kid calling you 'grandpa'?" Canary asked, with a knowing smirk.

"Well there was that too, I'll admit it," Wildcat confessed when he saw the look on her face. "I can't tell you how much that bugs me," he finished with a small laugh.

"How do you always make me forgive you whenever I'm mad at you Ted?" Black Canary asked through a laugh of her own. A laugh she really needed.

They didn't say anything for a while. They just stood there in silence, enjoying each other's company.

"You know Ted, I don't think you'll make a bad grandpa," Dinah said out of nowhere.

"WHAT?" Wildcat bellowed, hating to hear that accursed word again.

"Oh nothing." Dinah said in mock innocence, crossing her arms behind her, and walking off.

Not being able to say anything for a minute all Wildcat could do was stare after her and think about what she said. _"Me? A grandpa? That's not such a bad thing now that I think about it. A new student. One that _won't_ talk back to me! Ha!"_ Wildcat thought to himself while walking off.

"Where are they all coming from?" Batman said to himself in his own personal lab on the Watchtower, trying to figure out where the "kids" could have come from. He could work from his cave, but choose to work at the Watchtower, thinking having all members of the founders on board will help raise moral. "That kid who claimed to be Wally and Dinah's son couldn't have covered his tracks this well," Batman continued. Talking out loud helped him when dealing with really challenging cases. "That girl was too dumb to have found Nanda Parbat and handle Deadman so easily on her own." Stopping to think Batman realized he needed to take a break or he'd be of no help to anyone. "I need coffee," he decided and left.

Meanwhile in the entertainment room, Wonder Woman and John Stewart were watching Flash pace back and forth at super speed, looking like a red blur to them half the time.

"Calm down Wally. Everyone knows you haven't done anything wrong," John told his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder, which vibrated slightly under his touch.

"I know John, but I'm still not taking any chances. Oliver is mad as hell at me, and I don't even want to know what Dinah and Ted are thinking of doing to me," Flash said nervously looking around for any of the three he just mentioned.

"Actually, I don't think Dinah's mad at you. The only one I can think of that she's mad at is Huntress for all the teasing she's been getting. And Ted? Well he's always in a bad mood, so it's hard to tell," John said in a somewhat forced, cheery voice to help his friend relax.

Flash happened to see a turf of blonde hair coming and was about to run from the room at super speed, but he relaxed when he saw it was only Stargirl, who went over to watch one of the TVs with her friends, B'wana Beast and Speedy.

Seeing her friend so worried over only glimpsing blonde hair made Diana think of something to help calm his nerves. "Hey Wally, why don't you come over and watch some TV?" she motioned to where she was seated, on the couch with a big screen TV in front. "Maybe that can help with your nerves," she suggested. "Besides, me and John are here, so doesn't that make you feel a little bit safer?" she reasoned.

The idea seemed to work as Wally perked up a little bit remembering his friends would help if he needed it. When he and John came over to the couch Diana let them deal with the controls. It never stopped bothered her that, after being in Man's World for years, she was still having difficulty with the remotes. If there was only one remote there wouldn't be a problem, but with so many TVs and other things in the entertainment room, there were far too many remotes for her remember which did what. Diana will always be embarrassed by the memory of the time she tried to use the espresso remote for the DVR. Speedy and Vigilante always teasing her about it doesn't help.

After flipping through the channels for a while, they came to a news channel about the Flash Museum reopening in Central City.

"Here we are the grand reopening of the Flash Museum!" the reported on the TV covering the event announced cheerfully. Flash recognized her immediately as the woman that he had saved when his rogues had attacked and destroyed the museum in the first place. "_What was her name again_?" Flash thought to himself, but then her name popped up on the TV, telling him it was "Linda Park."

"Your museum is being reopened and you're not there Wally? That's a little strange," Diana said, while giving him a confused look.

"With all the things going on lately I guess it slipped my mind. Man that's embarrassing! I had a whole speech and little routine planned and everything. Aww man!" Wally yelled and put his head between his hands. He was upset about it, but Wonder Woman was happier that he was acting like his old self again, even if it was in anger. Diana would never admit it, but she found her speedy friend to be very amusing when he got mad like this.

"That's not hard to believe Wally, but what's done is done, so don't beat yourself up about it," John told his friend, not enjoying him make a scene out of something he found to not warrant it.

"I'll now interview some Central City faithful and get their opinions on the museum being re- what on earth?" Linda Park had continued, but the camera changed to see what she was looking at. A green blur was heading towards them at super speed. When it had reached them, a familiar green and black clad figure was standing next to Linda. "Hey toots! What's up?" he asked in a cheery tone, and toothy grin.

"That's _him_!" Wally shouted, jumping up in a red blur, when he saw the green and black speedster that had, very rudely, turned his life upside down.

"That's him Wally? He sounds just like you," Diana said, curiously looking at the boy on screen.

"You mean I should like someone who just randomly calls women 'toots' Diana?" Wally asked, giving his friend a hurt look.

"Not at all Wally! I just meant he _sounded_ like you." Diana quickly clarified. "Guys, just watch the TV," John, who had been watching the TV, told them. Flash, dejectedly, sat back down, embarrassed that the others in the entertainment room had come over due to his outburst.

"I'm sorry sir, but _who_ are you?" Linda asked, trying to stay professional.

"I'm Inertia, the son of Flash and Black Canary, and I think it's great my father's museum is being reopened!" Inertia all but yelled with the pride and happiness any child would have in their famous parents.

"_Ooooh man, Ollie's going t kill me_," Flash thought to himself, sinking into the cushions, at Inertia's on-air statement.

"WHAT?" Linda squawked out in genuine surprise.

"I _said _my hero name is Inertia, my parents are Flash and Black Canary, and I'm glad my father's museum is being reopened. You're not a very good reporter are you Ms. Parks." Inertia playfully mocked his interviewer with a wink.

Linda didn't catch the joking tone and her face contorted into a snarl. She quickly removed that snarl when she remembered the live feed and decided to go back to work. "So, uh, Inertia, what is your favorite part to your, um... father's museum being reopened?"

"That's a hard question Linda, but I think the best part is when I can get Stargirl to come with me," Inertia's grin got even bigger at that thought, which didn't seem possible.

"Tell him I don't want to go to your museum, but I wouldn't mind going to WrestleMania 28 if he can get the tickets to it," Stargirl said over Flash's shoulder, causing him to jump.

On screen a muffled sound starts to emit from Inertia which sounded like "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. The green-clad "hero" takes a device from a hidden poach on his costume and answers it. "Oh hi Grandpa! How are you?" he answered cheerily.

"_you traitor_," Flash thought bitterly, eyes narrowing. He wondered how long Wildcat has had this kid's number and how he got it, but as he continued go watched he realized it wasn't Wildcat on the other end.

Inertia started to visibly cringe the longer his "grandpa" kept yelling at him. It was easy to tell he was being yelled at, by the loud muffling sounds coming form his communication device. "I know grandpa I know! I just wanted to be on TV," Inertia was trying to reason with his grandfather in a scared voice that,much to Flash's annoyance, sounded just like his when doing the same.

Right at that moment there was an explosion heard several blocks away and immediately Linda's hand went to her earpiece. "Marla! Steve! Pack up quickly, we have to go! That was our boss, Hunter Solomon, and he says Heat Wave is robbing the Central City Bank, and we have to cover it!" With that the three of them backed up and left.

"I have to go now Grandpa, Heat Wave is robbing the bank, and I have to stop him. I promise I'll come home as soon as I'm done," Inertia didn't give his grandpa time to argue as he hung up quickly and left after the reporters.

While this was happening the leaguers all watching things unfold, didn't stop to hear everything, because as soon as they heard that Heat Wave was robbing the bank, they stopped what they were doing and got ready to leave for Central City.

Meanwhile, back in Central City, a green streak sped through the doors of the Central City bank. The young hero ignored the bound hostages and went straight to the bank vault, where he found his father's arch-enemy Heat Wave, in the process of melting the door down.

"Hold it right there Heat Wave!" he called out in what he hoped was a heroic sounding voice.

"Not today Flash, so leave now while I'm still letting you," the jump suited villain said with indifference, not looking away from his work.

"I'm not my father, but thanks for the compliment!" Inertia thanked the villain, momentarily forgetting to sound heroic.

At that, the confused villain turned to see who he was dealing with. When he recognized the blonde, green-clad hero from his brother-in-law's description, his eyes widened behind his visor, and a wicked grin spread across his face. "I was hoping to run into you kid. I may not like my brother-in-law, Captain Cold, but for my wife's sake I'll pay you back for him," he said with a creepy tone, indicating he's going to savor the moment.

Inertia didn't notice. Aww, that's sweet. You don't like your brother-in-law, but love your wife enough to avenge him. You're a good husband! Hope I can be like that someday." Inertia said, giving the villain a compliment.

Not amused, Heat Wave continued, "Whatever kid. Ready to die?"

"No, I'm ready to fight, but first we need some fight music.

"What?"

"It's true dude! Everyone knows the epic battle between the hero, that's me, and villain, that's you, needs some killer fight music," Inertia reasoned, before speeding away. He came back two seconds later with a boom box in his hand. "I, uh, 'borrowed' this form some kids down the street. They were playing some good music so I thought it would do." With that he turned the boom box on and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson started blaring, while Inertia started dancing in place, looking like some weird blur of green and yellow.

"_You have _got_ to be kidding me!_" Heat Wave thought to himself, watching Inertia dance. "This kid is weirder than Flash!" he yelled out.

"Yo hoo! Heat Wave!" Inertia called, having stopped dancing. "I only have one thing to tell you my friend. I'm gonna beat you and kick you and tell you it's fair!" He yelled before charging the stunned villain at super speed.

Outside the bank, Flash and the other founding members, as well as Stargirl, Speedy, and B'wana Beast all materialized. "Come on guys! Move it!" Flash urged them. He usually wasn't this impatience, but it took forever for them to get here. John insisted on getting the other founders before going down and the hanger-ons insisted on coming along as well.

Wonder Woman, noticed Flash's dilemma, allowed him to go on ahead. While running to the vault Flash hoped Inertia was OK. He may not like the kid, but he didn't want Heat Wave to kill him either. He knew from past encounters that Heat Wave is his greatest enemy, and it was no wonder he was one of Flash's few rogues in Grodd's Secret Society, and one of the even fewer villains that survived whatever ever happened with Darkseid on their fortress.

When Flash got to the vault he couldn't believe his eyes. Heat Wave laid out on the floor, beaten, hurt, but still awake; the bank being a complete mess, and a boom box playing the "best Of" Michael Jackson loudly. He sped over to his fallen foe. "Yo Mick, you alright? What happened here?" He asked Mick Rory, better known as Heat Wave.

"Arg! What kind of question is _that_? Your brat kid showed up, stole some other kid's boom box, and kicked my ass! What do you _think_ happened?" the villain spat.

"I can see that Mick, but which _way_ did he go, and how _long_agodid he leave?" Flash asked the villain, with a time-acquired familiarity.

Heat Wave, remembering the proper etiquette himself answered, "He left a few minutes ago, heading West. Knowing how fast you are, he's long gone now. Speaking of how fast you are Flash, how's the love life?" Mick could never pass up an opportunity to mock Flash's title of "Fastest Man in the World."

Turning away from his archenemy, and ignoring the insult for the umpteenth time, Flash filled his teammates in on what Heat Wave had told him.

"Is it just me, or is this getting extremely annoying?" Flash screamed upwards.

"Calm Down Flash, we don't need that now," Shayera told him.

"Yeah Flash, calm down," Heat Wave mocked, while being taken away.

"Please Mick, not to day." Flash tiredly pleaded with his enemy, who surprisingly complied.

"Please tell me you have something to tell us about these kids Batman," J'onn asked his friend. Batman just stared, not saying anything, indicating he's still trying.

"Then it looks like things are only going to get worse," the Martian finished, as the police flanked the paramedics while they took Heat Wave to the hospital.

"I have to go," the dark knight said to break the silence. "Where are you going Bats?" Flash asked, not wanting the smartest one there to leave.

"I need to make a call Flash."

"To who"

"Pete. After all this there's no way he won't be able to be kept in the dark anymore."

"Aw man. Not Pete!" Flash moaned. He, like most members of the league doesn't like Pete Bullock, but knows he needs to be informed. "How could this day get any worse?"

**(A/D) Sorry again for the super long wait people. Like I said earlier a lot has gone on for me in 2011. To make up I'll be updating more regularity. **


	8. Double Whammy At The Bank

**Hey, guys. SupremeStarscream here and I brought with me the 8th chapter. Enoy!:D _**

As the Founders appeared back in the Watchtower, Flash crossed his arms and heaved an enormous sigh. "Man, I can't believe this," he muttered under his breath. "Ollie is going to be so ticked when he hears about this. That kid is going around telling people that Dinah and I are his parents! On _live TV_!" The fact that said kid, Inertia, had stopped one of Flash's rogues from robbing the local bank in the time it took the heroes to organize and beam a team to Central City only added to the problem.

Diana patted her teammate on the shoulder. "I'm sure that things are going to work out just fine, Wally," she assured him soothingly. "How bad can things get? There are only two kids, Inertia and that Jinx girl. And neither of them has been causing that much trouble, if you stop to think about it."

"There could be more of them," Batman spoke up darkly, causing all the other heroes to turn and look at him. "Who knows how many of these 'kids' there are, and who is creating them. There could be one for each and every member of the League."

Wally's eyes became very wide. "What if there are more of _mine_? What if whoever's doing this made me have a kid with every woman in the whole League?" he cried hopelessly, cringing as he imagined them all coming after him.

"It's not like you're actually doing any of this," Shayera pointed out sensibly, folding her arms over her ample chest. "Someone out there is the one who's up to no good."

"Yeah, Wally. It's not like this is some elaborate prank of yours," GL agreed. There was a small pause as he gave the speedster a suspicious look. "It's not, is it?"

"No! Of _course_ not!" the Scarlet Speedster yelped, scowling as his supposed _friend_. "You think I just hired a few actors who just happen to have powers just like the people whose kids they're pretending to be, and set them loose on the planet to wreck havoc?" he blurted out indignantly.

"Well…it certainly seems like something you're capable of," Diana admitted with a small shrug. "You and Green Arrow are always doing things to everyone here, especially in April."

"April Fool's Day," Superman casually supplied.

"I still don't quite understand how this day became a holiday. What's the whole point of playing jokes on one another all day?" Diana inquired curiously.

"You should try it, Diana. You'd be surprised," Flash told her.

Batman calmly cleared his throat, effectively shutting up the idle chatter with a cold BatGlare. "We need to try to figure out who is doing all this. If the mastermind behind it starts using these kids for evil…" He let his voice trail of menacingly, leaving the others to make their own conclusions. He'd found with experience that it always worked better that way.

"I doubt that the Inertia kid would do anything," Wally spoke up, after several moments had passed. "Sure, he's a little rough around the edges, but I don't think he would _deliberately_ hurt someone without a good reason. He's kind of, you know, a vigilante."

"You just say that 'cause he's your _son_," Shayera taunted him, smirking at the expression on the crimson-clad speedster's face.

"_No_…" Wally answered with exasperation, rolling his eyes heavenward. It took him several seconds before he realized the rest of what the winged warrior had said. "And he's _not my son_!" He glanced around warily, making sure that Oliver hadn't been anywhere close by, with the potential of overhearing the conversation.

"So you say." Shayera arched a brow at him, still smirking widely.

"Besides, remember that Jinx girl?" Lantern interrupted, emerald eyes gleaming. "She attacked that temple and badly hurt all those monks. And we still don't really know what she plans to do with that orb she stole."

"If there are more of these children, they could prove to be dangerous," J'onn finally spoke up. "We should be very careful if we discover more of them. And it might be in our best interest if you can capture them and bring them aboard the Watchtower."

"Right, J'onn," Clark agreed, nodding once. "But they could pop up at any second, in any place. Who _knows_ when we'll find another one of them?"

xxxxx

"I can't _believe_ this." Lois Lane strode into the Metropolis bank, high heels clicking loudly on the concrete as she mounted the sweeping steps. "We shouldn't have to _pay_ to get into Mercy Grave's press conference. We're _reporters_, for God's sake! We should have the right to get the news to the people without withdrawing from our bank accounts." Scowling, she pushed open the glass doors and continued inside. She didn't notice the fact that she almost took Jimmy out with one of the doors, causing him to stagger into the stone gargoyle statue beside his position.

Nearly dropping his camera, Jimmy managed to straighten himself out, hurrying after the raven-haired Lois. He was just in time to catch the tail end of her tirade, "…don't _you_ have any money?"

"Huh?" Jimmy asked breathlessly, brushing himself off as he stood behind her.

"I said, why don't you carry a few hundreds around with you, in case of emergencies like this?" Lois demanded, impatiently tapping her foot against the perfectly polished tile floor as she waited in line. "We're going to be late, Olsen, and it's going to be _your_ fault."

"_What_?" Jimmy squeaked out. "Why should _I_ be the one who carries around money? I'm just the _photographer_!" He waved around his beat-up camera for good measure, as though he was worried that Lois wouldn't believe him. He also didn't make enough to carry more than ten or twenty bucks a week but that would have been beside the point for her.

Lois gestured sharply through the air. "Sure, whatever. But my point is, Lex Luthor was a rapacious, self-absorbed bastard, and apparently that rubbed off on Mercy. Why else would she be charging us to listen to her talk about her ex-boss?"

Jimmy blinked at her. "Uh…riiight. You're not going to write that in the article, are you?"

Just as Lois opened her mouth to respond, more than likely with an angry retort, the front doors unexpectedly exploded with a ball of orange, purple, and green fire. Both Lois and Jimmy were knocked off their feet, along with almost everyone else milling throughout the bank. The latter landed on top of Lois, and quickly pushed his way off of her as they both climbed back to their feet.

"What the…" He stared as Volcana, Evil Star, and Atomic Skull strolled into the building, Skull casually flinging a ball of flames at the guards who had been drawing their weapons. All of them were effectively knocked out cold when the sphere of flame exploded in front of them, leaving the bank basically undefended.

"Okay, everybody! We're gonna take the money now, and nobody's gonna stop us, you hear?" Atomic Skull shouted loudly, turning to stare around at the terrified citizens of Metropolis. Under his menacing emerald glare, they all dropped to the floor and covered their heads with their arms, one by one. The super villain exchanged a confused look with his cohorts, and Volcana rolled her eyes, as though pretending not to be associated with either of them.

Lois, leaning against a potted plant and trying her best to remain inconspicuous (despite her brilliant red ensemble), shot Jimmy a Look he knew and dreaded all too well. Maybe coming here hadn't been such a hardship after all. It looked like she was going to get a much better story than what Perry had actually assigned her.

xxxxx

"Superman."

The Man of Steel turned towards where Mr. Terrific was leaning over the railing of the control area, looking slightly worried. He was still trying to talk with the other Founders about the pair of 'kids' that had been running around, and didn't entirely appreciate being interrupted. "What is it, Terrific?" he called back, trying to plaster a Boy Scout smile in place, instead of a Batman-like frown.

"He looks like Bats when he's all scowly like that," Wally muttered in a stage whisper to Shayera, who ruffled her wings as though silently appreciating the joke.

"A silent alarm has been sounded from the bank in Metropolis. It seems that Evil Star, Volcana, and Atomic Skull are attempting to rob it. There are several hostages, and the police are already on the scene outside the building."

John cocked a brow. "We're going to have to forget the kids for right now. Shayera, let's go with Clark and give him a hand. We'll use my ring."

The winged warrior nodded. "I could use a break from all this, actually. And beating up a few common criminals with super powers sounds like the perfect hobby."

"Diana and I will examine the evidence that we've gathered at the sightings so far," Gotham's protector proclaimed.

"I will monitor the planet below for anything abnormal, and notify all of you if anything changes," J'onn added.

"And I'll…I'll just go see if Ralph wants to play Smash 'em, Break 'em Robots," Wally added, turning to go as though he had somewhere important to be, like the rest of them. _And I'll play another round of Avoid the Angry Boyfriend, _he decided mentally.

xxxxx

The three criminals started for the bank vault, not paying much attention to any of the shaking people planted on the floor. Lois nudged Jimmy, then gestured with her head that he should follow them and get some pictures for the article she was already planning on writing. She waited until he had crept around the potted plant and in the general direction of the vault, and then turned her attention to the problem at hand: the hostages. She had to try to get them out; it was what Superman would do.

Striding importantly away from the cover of the potted tree, her heels once again clicking loudly, she immediately drew the attention of the retreating villains. They all turned to look at her as she approached, planting both hands on her slender hips as she stared accusingly at them. "I know you want the money, but you don't have to keep _them_ here," she said angrily.

Evil Star and Atomic Skull once again turned to stare at each other, and Volcana sneered. "Who the hell are you talking about, Lane?" Her eyes flared with red-orange fire as she sneered at the petite reporter.

"I'm _talking_ about your _hostages_," Lois snapped, trying her best to look threatening, and really succeeding. "Just let them all go, and you can have me as your hostage." _So I can also get the inside scoop on all of you,_ she added silently.

Evil Star glanced towards all the people huddled on the shining floor, and his brow furrowed behind his star-shaped mask. "Oh. Haven't they already left? I would have thought that they'd all run outside or something," he said with a small shrug.

"Idiots," Volcana muttered, shaking her head with annoyance and disappearing around the corner as she headed for the vault. She left behind the faint smell of smoke, and a singed place on the floor where she'd been standing previously.

"Well, then." Atomic Skull faced the supposed hostages, waving his hands almost comically. "Go on and get out of here, all of you. You're not really any good lying all over the floor, now are you?" He threw back his head and laughed, as though he was trying to mimic someone truly evil. His attempt didn't really succeed.

"Besides, if the League shows up, how are we going to fight them with you all blocking the floor?" Evil Star added sensibly. "So go on, I guess. If you all really want to."

Without hesitating any longer, the people scrambled to their feet and rushed out of the building. All of them screamed at the top of their lungs as they went, startling the police who had surrounded the building.

Lois stared incredulously after the retreating stampede, and then turned back towards the patiently-waiting criminals. Maybe these guys weren't the bad ones that the League and police were always insisting that they were. They had let all the people go free, after all. She reached into her purse and whipped out her notepad and pen. "So…who wants to be quoted for my article?" she asked sunnily, flashing a sweet smile.

xxxxx

Jimmy tried to channel his inner Batman, while creeping cautiously up to the bank vault. He found the absurdly heavy-duty door already melted into a puddle of steaming liquid, and his dark eyes widened with surprise. The sight of the melted door was actually pretty impressive. And the wads of money floating around the destroyed vault were pretty awe-inspiring, too. So were the enormous piles of gold and silver coins surrounding the gorgeous redhead with flames sizzling from her hands.

Positioning his camera and switching the flash off, Jimmy raised his camera. He figured that he didn't really need the flash on to capture pictures of the scene, since Volcana was pretty much her own flashbulb at the moment. Besides, he didn't really want to get caught. The last time he'd met up with the fiery villainess, she'd melted all the film in his camera. He didn't want that to happen again.

Moving a little closer, the freckled photographer leaned around the corner of the vault and pressed the correct button as he zoomed in on Volcana's back. "This one's for the personal collection…" he mumbled absently, biting down on his bottom lip as he tried to get the perfect angle for the shot.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Volcana moved with surprising speed towards him, suddenly looming up in the viewfinder. Jimmy went ahead and took the shot, as the new view was much more satisfactory, then lowered the camera and slowly straightened up.

"Um…hi?"

"Who the hell are you?" Both of Volcana's hands sizzled with fire, and Jimmy swallowed nervously, backing away a couple of steps.

"I'm Jimmy Olsen, from the _Daily Planet_," he told her pompously. "And we've met before, you and I. It was a really long time ago; like, several years," he couldn't help adding.

Volcana lowered her flaming hands. "I don't remember meeting you…" she said suspiciously.

"Oh, we met, alright. At a yacht club party. I took pictures of you, and then you melted all the film in my camera. Uh…remember? Ringing any bells for you yet?"

Volcana looked musing, pursing her very red lips. "Hmmm…I seem to remember something like that. I think I was trying to steal some stuff." She thought for a few more seconds. And you were the little twerp talking about personal collections!"

"Yep, that was me. I guess I'm very memorable," Jimmy said happily.

"Let me give you a little something, for old time's sake." Volcana leaned forward, reaching towards Jimmy's arm with one manicured hand. At the last second, she grabbed the camera instead, briefly lighting it up with a small ball of fire. A puff of smoke exploded from it, then she handed it back to the dismayed photographer. Sneering at him, she turned back to her work of robbing the vault.

Jimmy kicked the wall, scowling at his camera as he opened it, burning both of his palms. As expected, the film was completely melted, ruined. "_Wonderful_. Lois is going to _kill_ me."

xxxxx

"So…" Lois consulted her notes, "…Evil Star. What do _you_ plan to do with the money you're going to steal today?" she questioned politely. She'd already learned enough backstory on both he and Atomic Skull to satisfy her readers. So this inquiry seemed like the logical one to make next.

Before either of the criminals could answer, a blur of red and blue exploded through the ceiling above. Superman landed on the floor in a heroic pose, cape fluttering around him, along with Shayera, Green Lantern, and lots of debris from the imploded ceiling. Lois barely managed to avoid being crushed, and Evil Star deflected several chunks of concrete into the opposite wall.

"Lois?" Superman gawked at the beautiful reporter, as though surprised to see her. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"What a _surprise_," Shayera muttered sarcastically to GL, rolling her eyes. Wherever trouble and Superman were within the boundaries of Metropolis, so was Lois. It was common knowledge by now. Apparently to everyone except Blue Boy himself.

"You could have just used the door, you know," Atomic Skull spoke up, waving his flaming hand to clear the dust floating around his face. "We left it open and everything." He pointed out the shattered front doors to the newly-arrived Leaguers.

"He's right," Lois said with a smirk, looking slightly amused with the situation. She knew he had used his X-ray vision on the building and carefully considered his entrance for minimal damage and maximum dramatic effect, to startle the villains and give him the immediate upper-hand.

"What the hell are you doing? Smoke them, already!" Volcana shouted as she exploded around the corner from the bank vault. Her hands were already glowing like hot coals as she sprang towards Shayera. Evil Star and Atomic Skull shrugged, and then leapt randomly at the two remaining heroes, each picking one to battle it out with.

Lois stepped back from the fight as Jimmy ran around the corner to join her. "Jimmy. Get anything good?"

"Um…not exactly. Volcana caught me, and I had to fight for my life. I barely managed to escape alive." He showed her the convincing burns on his palms, which were in actuality from his hot camera after Volcana had melted the film. "Unfortunately…my film wasn't as lucky as I was." He importantly showed off the destroyed camera film.

Lois didn't look convinced. "We need to talk to Perry about getting you a few spare rolls of film," she decided, crossing her arms and observing the grappling heroes and villains. "Or maybe a digital camera."

xxxxx

"Hey, Kurt. Check _that_ out." A girl who looked to be in her early-20s and with a startling resemblance to Shayera Hol paused on the sidewalk, ignoring the stares she was getting from those passing. With her skintight costume consisting of a black backless tank top edged in green with the red Thanagarian emblem bisecting her bosom she was actually pretty noticeable. Most of the men passing her were staring at her low slung red pants, under which a green G-string was just visible.

Her companion, who was wearing a black and red semi-replica of Superman's costume with flame style trim and carrying a stolen iPod, turned to look where she pointed with her mace-like flange. His attention was momentarily drawn to huge hole in the Metropolis bank, then he turned to face her. "_Firehawk_, Grandpa says you're supposed to call me by my _codename_," he hissed, glancing around guiltily, as though afraid someone had overheard. Not that it mattered with the science fiction convention just down the road they were generally dismissed by most of the people around them.

"Sure, right. _Pyro_." Firehawk stopped to roll her green eyes so much that they almost fell back in her head. Then she gestured towards the bank again. "Anyway, as I was _saying_, it looks like someone is robbing the bank. And if so, then that means that some of the League might be there, too." She raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

"So?"

"The Big Guy himself might be there…" Firehawk planted one hand on her hip, the motion highly resembling something that the former Hawkgirl unconsciously did all the time.

"Really?" Kurt asked eagerly, face brightening at the thought. "Well, then. What are we waiting for? Let's head over there before the cops show up."

"And while we're at it, let's pick up some cash for Gramps," the redhead added in a businesslike tone. "He mentioned that he needed some more lab equipment, and now would be the perfect time to obtain him some…funding."

Pyro shrugged. "Sure. Why not. Now _let's go_." He couldn't wait to see if his dad was there, inside the bank. Inertia and Jinx had been lucky enough to see both of their parents, and the rest of them hadn't been nearly as lucky. Maybe he would get a chance today? This city was Superman's protectorate, not to mention where Pyro remembered growing up, so the odds were good. Their grandfather didn't really need to know anything about it…

xxxxx

The Man of Steel flew through the air after being on the receiving end of an energy-powered blast from Evil Star, crashing through the tellers' counter and landed hard in the resulting debris. Lois raced over to him and left Jimmy behind, wobbling only slightly on her heels. She crouched down beside him, tugging at the Boy Scout's arm as she tried to get him back to his feet. "Superman!" she said breathlessly. "Fancy meeting _you_ here."

"Lois." Superman struggled to his feet, but Evil Star didn't seem to notice. He'd flown over to give Atomic Skull a hand with GL, apparently forgetting about his previous opponent. "I was wondering about something. Why were you getting along so well with them, when we first got here? You looked like you were having a proper conversation." His brow furrowed deeply with confusion. "And why didn't you call me when they got here?"

"I was interviewing them for an article," Lois said, folding her arms primly. "And besides, it's not like you have an official number for me to call or anything. At least, not one that you've shared with me, anyway." Jimmy had managed to keep his signal watch a secret from her. Otherwise she would have demanded one of her own.

"Now, Lois. Don't be that way–" Clark began uncertainly, not exactly sure how to deal with his girlfriend when she looked so angry at him, and had apparently been chatting up a pair of super villains.

"_What_ way?" she asked dangerously.

"Well, uh…" It was a sign of how mundane danger had become for the two of them that they could get into these arguments even when he was trying to protect her from super villains.

"We could use a little help over here, Superman!" came Shayera's shout from across the room, as she struggled to break from Volcana's fiery hold on her.

Before Superman could come to the aid of her and Lantern, a cry came up from across the room, "Mom! Stop killing her, already! If you do, Firehawk'll never let me live it down!" Everybody froze, especially Volcana and Shayera, and turned slowly towards the voice.

Lantern's eyes became very big as he backed away from the equally surprised Atomic Skull. He stared back and forth between Shayera and the redhead who had entered with the other kid. He'd assumed there would be more 'kids' of theirs to be discovered, but he'd never expected that one would belong to _Shayera_!

"And just who are _you two_?" Lois asked quickly, sliding out her pen and paper. She'd been a star reporter for quite some time, and she knew an award-winning story when she saw one. Perry would probably be thrilled with the stories she had discovered today, whenever she and Jimmy got back to the _Planet_. This was going to be _loads_ better than listening to Mercy Graves prattling on about Lex Luthor. She could _sense_ it.

"Oh. We're, uh…" Pyro glanced questioningly at his companion. "Well, we're not really supposed to say…"

"I'm Firehawk, and he's Pyro. I'm the daughter of Shayera Hol and Atomic Skull, and he's the son of the Boy Scout and Volcana," she announced nonchalantly. Gesturing with her flange at each "parent" in turn. Pyro just groaned and covered his face with his right hand.

"_What_?" Lois and Evil Star burst out in unison, turning to stare at Superman and Volcana, respectively.

Clark cleared his throat, tearing his incredulous gaze from Pyro. And directing it to Firehawk. "And…and why should we believe either of you?"

Firehawk tensed, taking a deep breath as her skin took on a green glow and a pair of green feathered wings burst out of her back. She turned in a full circle as the heroes and villains gaped in shock at her. "Cool, right? Grandpa gave me retractable wings, which are _perfect_ for a quick getaway." She grinned. Green flames licking playfully at the corners of her mouth.

"That's…she's…_Yom Shigureth_," Shayera managed to choke out.

"But I didn't ever…we didn't…" Atomic Skull looked puzzled; trying to figure out what the heck was going on. He _definitely_ didn't remember having a kid with Hawkgirl.

"Um…so they…you're really Superman's kid?" Lois demanded, planting one hand on her hip and holding her notepad and pen in the other.

"_Yeah_. You doubting us?" Firehawk stipulated aggressively.

"Firehawk–" Pyro began nervously. Then he visibly winced and touched the device in his left year. "Uh, hey Grandpa. What's up? Oh, nothing. Just stopped a bank robbery, and now I'm standing here chatting up Mom and Dad…"

"Sure, whatever," Firehawk said, as though adding something to the one-sided conversation that the others could actually hear. She waved towards the gathered Leaguers and ex-Injustice Gang members. "See you guys sometime later. We're off." She touched something on her wrist, as Pyro did the same, then both vanished.

There were several moments of silence, then Volcana summed the whole situation up in just three words: "What the hell?"

**Please review after reading, and the wait for the next chapter (hopefully) won't be as long! =D **


	9. Aftershocks

**Hey everyone, SupremeStarscream here and I'm bringing you yet another chapter. Hope you all like this chapter and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me a PM.**

**Aftershocks**

"Soooo, does anyone know what just happened? " Jimmy asked after what felt like a long hour in the bank. Heroes and villains alike were still confused as to what had just happened. First they were fighting, as was the norm, then the next two kids show up claiming to be their children, and then left. They made a good argument for that claim too, which just made things weirder and more confusing. The girl, Firehawk, looked exactly like Shayera and her fire powers looked identical to Atomic Skull's. The boy, Pyro, looked like a younger version of Superman and his demeanor and mannerisms were his.

"No Jimmy, I don't think anyone knows what just happened, but it sure was confusing."

"I know Superman, it was," Jimmy said, turning to Superman who he thought had said it.

"I didn't say anything Jimmy," Superman said to his young friend when he turned to him.

"You didn't? Then who did?" Jimmy asked, puzzled.

"I did," said Evil Star raising his hand.

Jimmy and Superman turned to face him with confused faces. "What? He just asked out loud, I didn't know he meant you," he finished, shrugging.

"Its not that you answered, it just… you sounded like Superman for a sec, and even answered in a way he would," Jimmy told the large supervillain after a short pause in between.

"Well, uh-"Evil Star sheepishly attempted to say something to that comparison, but was cut off.

"Yo! Numbskulls! We got something more important to talk about here," Volcana annoyingly brought them back to the situation at hand, if in a rude way.

"Oh. Right," the three of them said in unisonous and they quickly refocused themselves.

"Hey Superman, do these kids have anything to do with the one that claimed to be Flash and Black Canary's kid on TV a couple of hours ago?" asked Volcana.

"I think so Volcana, and our- the boy- mentioned his 'grandpa' much like that 'Inertia' kid did, so they probably _do_ have something to do with… him," Superman was about to say "our son", but changed it quickly. He didn't know how she would react to him saying that, and he didn't want to take a chance on it.

"Speaking of that boy, would you two mind telling me what they meant when they said he was _your_ child?" Lois asked in a voice that could cut glass while huffily planting her hands on her hips.

"I, um, don't really uh," Superman tried to answer her, but was too shocked, and kinda scared of Lois at the moment to do so properly.

"What Big Blue is _trying _to say Lane, is that he's as confused as we are on this, so you should back off and give him some space," Volcana said, surprisingly standing up for Superman.

Lois sharply turned her head to face the red haired villainess and was about to advance on her when Hawkgirl got in between them, using her wings to push distance between the equally hot tempered women."That's enough you two. We have enough problems without you two fighting," She reasoned while using her wings to keep them apart.

"I didn't do anything. _She_ started it," Volcana said, pointing at Lois. "I was just saying it as it is," she finished.

"Like hell you didn't start it!" Lois shrieked loudly and due to the high ceiling it echoed, making it even louder and causing Shayera to cover her ears and drop her wings. Lois saw this as an opportunity to get around her and attack Volcana. She got within a foot of her before she fell on the ground, dazed, from an unseen uppercut from Volcana.

Everyone was caught off guard by that sucker punch and weren't sure how to respond. Normally Superman would have gotten Lois out of harm's way and dealt with whoever attacked her. But normally Lois wasn't the one who started the confrontation and whoever attacked her didn't leave it at the one punch.

"You gonna calm down now _princess_?" Volcana asked and taunted at the same time, cocking an eyebrow like the Rock used to, as she did so.

"Why you little-" Lois started but was cut off by Superman who got between them.

"Now, now you two, can we please not fight each other?" He asked, hoping they would agree.

Superman wasn't too sure how this would turn out. Lois _always_ had to get the last word in and he didn't know what Volcana would do. He thought he knew the flaming villainess pretty well and truth be told, he was on better terms with her than he was with his other enemies, but she wasn't acting like her normal, flirty self, so that was causing him to worry more. She had been trying to get Lois off his back, which incidentally, started the fight between her and Lois, and that was a bit odd itself. "_I guess she's still grateful for what I did for her when we first met_," he thought to himself, reasoning her defensive actions.

"Sure Superman, I'll leave it here," Volcana said, calmly, having vented her anger and standing like she won a fight. She had said it so softly that it took Superman a moment to register it.

"Oh fine! I'll stop too, but hell if you think this is over you bunsen burner with boobs." Lois growled at Volcana, showing her newfound dislike for the redhead while glaring at her fiercely; showing her newfound dislike for the redhead with a fierce glare.

After mentally wiping his forehead, Superman got out from the middle of the two of them and stepped back between John and the former meta brawler Evil Star, who tapped him on his shoulder, asking jokingly, "Think you could do that the next time my sisters get into a fight?"

"Not even if you paid me," he responded quickly with a smile.

"Do you guys know anything else about these kids? I mean, like at all?" Atomic Skull asked with his arms in front of him, unintentionally showing how upset he is.

"No, but I wish we did, now calm down. You're acting like Flash," Shayera said to the panicky villain, subconsciously putting her hand on her hip.

"I'm not panicking, I'm just a little freaked out! I mean, the idea of having a kid with _you_ is bad enough, but the way she was wearing her pants just makes this worse," he retorted angrily with his skull's fire getting bigger.

"What's that suppose to mean you walking jack-o-lantern?" Shayera demanded, getting angry herself, raising her mace as she did so.

"Exactly as it sounds _Crow_girl," Atomic Skull shot back, hands catching fire now.

Shayera was about to attack the former meta brawler, but was stopped by John, who put her in a bubble. "That's enough Shay, calm down," he told her.

"Yeah, Skull, you too," Evil Star told his large friend, getting in front of him to stop him from advancing any further. "What's _with_ you anyways? You don't normally get mad this easily," he finished.

"Shayera, you've been doing pretty well with controlling your Thanagarian temper lately. Don't lose it now," John advised his ex-girlfriend.

After a short pause, Atomic Skull said, "I just find the idea of having a kid with an enemy more than a little scary. I mean, if she _is_ our kid, which she can't be, it'll really warp her to see her 'parents'… fight." He finished while shifting uncomfortably and looking like fights between parents was an all too familiar childhood experience.

Everyone looked at him after saying that, not because he said it, but because of how much sense it made and how strongly he felt about the topic. "I didn't mean anything by it," he said to Shayera, not looking at her, "I was just freaking out. Sorry."

"Uh," Was all Shayera could say at first. "Sure, no prob. Sorry about the 'jack-o-lantern' crack," she managed after a moment's pause.

All were quite for a minute after that. "So, do _you_ wear a g-string too?" Atomic Skull casually asked Shayera. This was as much to restore his image as satisfy his genuine curiosity.

"What? Why would I wear a g-string?" The winged warrior asked, more out of shock at the change of subject than anger at what was said.

"Well, that girl was wearing one. I'm sure you noticed it when she turned around to show us her wings, and she _does_ look a lot like you, so I figured she took after you there," he cockily answered, crossing his arms.

"Now see here you-" John started but Shayera cut him off.

"No. I do not wear a g-string. She did that all on her own," the thanagarian answered with a stern look.

"Oooh you lie!" Volcana teased.

"I bet you do, you crazy hot head," Shayera shot back angrily.

"Of course I do. Those things, give you the most maneuverability."Volcana answered in a reasoning yet sensual tone, with a big grin on her face.

"Uh, really?" Shayera asked , confused by Volcana's blunt and crude, answer.

"Yup! The best part is they don't just give you all that freedom, but they feel _real_ good too," she answered with a flirty smile, grabbing her butt with both hands.

"Okay! I think this conversation has run its course!" Superman mostly yelled as he tried to put an end to this X-rated conversation before he started blushing.

"Spoil sport," Volcana said, pouting cutely.

"It's times like this that makes me happy we're dating babe," said Evil Star. "but seriously, I think you should calm down for Jimmy's sake. He probably needs some tissues now," Evil Star joked, smirking.

"HEY!" Jimmy loudly protested that.

"Sorry Jimbo, but this girl has that effect on you even when you don't want too." The large villain told the young photographer. "Back to business," continued Evil Star, crossing his arms and thinking. "The thing that we're missing here is that, these kids don't seem to want to hurt anyone. From what I've heard about Flash and Black Canary's 'son' has only stopped his 'father's'rogues and then went off, whiles these two just wanted to say 'hi' from what I gathered, so they don't seem to be evil. Just doing what kids their age normally do. Screw around," he reasoned with more sense and knowledge then most of the people in the room would give him credit for.

"That and their really pissing people off too!" Volcana burst out. "Thanks to those two, I just _know_ you're going to give me a good working over and not the kind that I like either!" she finished with _way_ too much information.

"Okay, I'm sorry but, _what_ is with you lately?" Evil Star asked, exasperated with her mood swings and general bad behavior as of late.

"Long story short hun, it's that time of the month, so let's leave it at that. Okay?" She answered back to him, crossly.

"Okay!" squeaked out her boyfriend.

"You know, I think you make a good point, uh sorry but… who are you exactly?" Superman asked, pointing to Volcana's boyfriend.

"I'm Evil Star. I'm one of the former meta brawlers. Nice to meet you," he told Superman , holding out his hand to shake.

"I'm Superman, nice to meet you too," Superman kindly said, taking the villain's hand and shaking it.

"Oh great, _another_ boy scout. Someone call Captain Marvel so they can all go for a camping trip, or something," Shayera said, making a joke.

After everything that had been said, everyone there decided to be quite for a moment. Just to let everything sink in, to calm down, and let things get back to normal. After about a minute, Atomic Skull said, "I guess there's only one thing let to do now."

"Yeah, and that is?" John asked, a little more crossly than he meant. His answer was a hard punch to the jaw from Evil Star, while Shayera and Superman both received punches of their own from Volcana and Atomic Skull respectfully. The heroes hadn't noticed that the villains had been getting closer to them during the whole "conversation" they had been having since the kids left.

"That took care of them, not let's leave before the cops get here," Evil Star said, picking up a few bags of money and jewels.

"Man the cops are _always_ too late to do anything in this city," Atomic Skull thought out loud, also grabbing sacks of money.

"Not like they _could_ do anything if they got here on time, "Volcana said, picking up the last bag of cash and jewels.

All the while the three villains are doing this, Lois and Jimmy were staring at them with dumbfounded looks. Neither of them had any idea how that had just happened, but weren't that scared. They thought they knew these villains well enough to know they wouldn't hurt them.

"Jimmy! Lois! We had a blast, but we think we should be going now," Evil Star called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, See ya!" Atomic Skull continued, waving.

"Lois, if you ever want to finish this, or want to know any good places to buy thongs or g-string, I'm more than willing to do either!" Volcana finished, smirking.

And just like that, the three villains had escaped scot-free.

"Well… that was new," Jimmy said, more amused than anything else.

"Yeah, but I'm still ticked," Lois admitted. Volcana had officially made it to her "I Hate Your Guts" list.

Several hours later, Lois was at one of the many bars in Metropolis, _not_ trying to drink her problems away or, at least that what she was telling herself. She reasoned that she was just trying to unwind after an extra crazy day. Due to all the crazy things that happen in Metropolis, the mayor signed several forms that allowed more bars to be made in the city. Many thought it would cause problems, but it actually helped bring more jobs and money into the city to have so many bars.

"Looks like you could use a drinking buddy," said a strangely familiar voice.

Lois turned to the direction of the voice and saw a large, handsome, man that she didn't know, holding a full pitcher of beer and two empty mugs. "Care if I join you?" he asked.

"Sure. Misery loves company," she answered. She mentally noted the subtle slur in her speech. Gaging her inebriation was a habit from her youth that still served her well.

"I'm Gabe. Gabe Gallows. It's nice to meet you Miss Lane. I'm a big fan of-" Gabe was trying to say, but Lois had cut him off.

"Why thank you Gabe! I love to meet my fans," Lois answered with enthusiasm. No matter how many of her fans she met, Lois almost always liked meeting new ones. And right now it would be a welcome distraction.

"Actually I was going to say I'm a big fan of Clark Kent's and was wondering if you could get me his autograph," Gabe nonchalantly corrected her with a smirk.

Lois just stared at the man before her. After a second, she started laughing. "Good joke! It was so subtle, I almost didn't catch it," she told her new drinking buddy.

"Well you seemed to know what I was going to say, so I decided to throw you off," Gabe laughed back to her. I really am a fan of your work though.

The two of them had several drinks and Lois had found out very little about hew new 'friend' but she did know he was a nice and good man. Something about his eyes just let her know it. They found they had some common ground during their talk. Turns out Gabe was in the bar because he was trying to deal with some relationship problems with his long-time girlfriend. Lois could relate to that at the moment. The other bits of things they had in common were not as big, but they were fun. They liked similar movies, sports (Gabe was surprised to find that Lois was a boxing fan), and, unfortunately, not-so-good relationships with their fathers.

Before too long, Lois figured it was time for her to go.

"Gabe, *hic* it's been fun, but I *hic* should be *hic* going," Lois said slurred, stumbling, but catching herself on the table.

"Maybe you should, but let me call you a cab. Looks like you need one," Guy kindly offered.

"Wha, what makes yooobe, think I ne-need a viede?" Lois slurred, so baldy it took Gabe a second to process what she said.

"Well, for one, you can't say more than three words without hiccupping and two, you're looking cross-eyed at your mug and talking to it as if it were me. I'd say those are good reasons to need a cab," Guy reasoned.

"Why don't _you _*hic* give me a *hic* ride then, Mr. big *hic* man?" Lois asked in what Guy hoped wasn't a flirting way, as she was batting her eyelids in a mistimed manner while she said it.

"Because I'm drunk too and could use a cab myself, so it'll be one of those 'hitting two birds with one stone' deals. Alright?" Gabe reasoned, he wasn't dunk, but was hoping she wouldn't notice and would agree. He heard on radio, read on magazines, and read in news papers that Lois was hard to reason with sometimes, but was hoping her drunken state would make her easier to reason with.

After a couple minutes of considering, and a reminder of what they were talking about, Lois relented, so Gabe called her a cab, and told the driver their addresses. He didn't know Lois's and she was too drunk to coherently tell him herself so he, almost shamefully, reached into her purse and got out her I.D. to find it out. He told the driver and they went to her apartment building.

When they got there, Lois was too drunk to get to her room herself, so Gabe had to carry her in over his shoulder, which he had to change it to a bridal-carry when he got some strange looks from the employees. He had to pay the cab driver for Lois too and since he didn't want to explain things to the driver when he came back, he told him he could leave.

After they had finally gotten to Lois room, Lois drunkenly thanked him. "No problem," he said and was about to turn and leave when Lois asked, "Want to come in?" Gabe knew better than to go into a drunken woman's room, but he was so tired form his own unique day, that he didn't care at the moment and said, "Sure. Thanks. And with that, he went into Lois's apartment with her to spend the night.

**Well here's my chapter. I hope everyone liked it.**

**I'm sure more than a few of you are wondering what happened between Lois and her new 'friend' *evil smirk* well, read on and find out!**


	10. Repercussions

**Repercussions**

Clark was not having a good morning. He had offered to let Dr. Fate crash at his apartment because they were friends and that's what friends do. When one was in trouble the other helped out. It was how his parents raised him. In the days that followed he had learned to regret his generosity.

It wasn't the fact that Fate snored. Clark could have handled that if that was the worst problem. His parents sometimes seemed to compete with each other when it came to snoring. Fate was a distant third by comparison. It was some of the other problems that were getting under his skin.

For one thing, the helmet of Nabu tended to drift. It had wandered into the bathroom while Clark was in the shower at least twice that he knew of. Even going so far as to try putting itself on his head one of those times. He had learned to keep his bedroom door locked after waking up to that eyeless yet penetrating stare two days in a row. And it had wondered over to the apartment of Mrs. Cravitz, his next door neighbor, last night via the balcony. Marking the first time Clark was glad for medicinal marijuana. If the old woman hadn't been high, the sight of a floating helmet trying to put itself on her head may have given her a coronary. Fate explained that the helmet felt his emotional imbalance and that was why it was drifting. And the attempts to be worn by others were its way of trying to get different perspectives in an attempt to understand the situation. But the explanation didn't exactly make the problem easier.

Fate's collections of spell ingredients and magic snack foods were another item on the problems list since they had found their way into Clark's pantry. His spaghetti sauce acquired interesting colors, flavors and textures when he mistook powdered hen's teeth and dragon root for garlic and oregano. Not entirely unpleasant once it decided to stop being furry, but not what he expected of the Kent family recipe. The effects it had on his digestive track were also not what he expected and made him glad Fate could enchant Pepto-Bismol.

Then there was the mystic's idea of a party mix which was more diverse, and possibly alive, than Clark was comfortable with. And he didn't even want to know what strange substance got percolated in his coffee maker this morning. In fact he was going to make his friend buy him a new one. A top of the line model with the all the fancy settings and a big price tag.

These weren't even the tip of the iceberg though. He gave an involuntary shudder and tried not to think of the other problems that rooming with a magic user had brought into his life. Or the complaints he'd gotten from some of his other neighbors, and not just on his floor, when some of Fate's projects got away from him. (Mrs. Ochmonek was already suspicious of Clark on general principal.) Instead he tried to focus on the problems he was about to deal with as he made his way to Lois' apartment with a box of her favorite doughnuts and two cups of coffee. Yesterday's discovery of Superman's "son" had clearly upset her. Which probably lead to a drinking binge and while Clark couldn't drink with her until the accidentally enchanted spaghetti sauce was fully gone from his system he knew what she would be wanting the morning after. Which was hot coffee, someone else providing breakfast, and someone to talk to about what was bothering her. The fact that she would be in no shape to drive this early and would need to ride with someone in order to get to work didn't hurt either.

There were times he resented the fact that Superman was her love interest while Clark Kent would probably never be more than a friend to her. And then there were times like this where being her friend, possibly her best friend, was the better deal.

He knocked on the door and waited. Picturing in his mind the image he would see when she opened it. She would be looking disheveled yet still beautiful despite the obvious signs of hangover. Wearing a soft, light pink, bathrobe that showed off her legs and was perhaps only lightly tied in front showing a pleasant but not indecent amount of chest. He sometimes fantasized about seeing her wearing that robe in more intimate settings.

The door opened. The bathrobe was there, and it was lightly tied, but the person occupying it wasn't who Clark had been expecting. Instead of the raven haired reporter he was greeted by an athletic man with a build similar to his own doing a pretty good vocal impression of The Adams Family butler Lurch as he groaned out an inquisitive, "yes?"

Clark felt several fantasies concerning that robe get warped by the image before him and tossed into the back of his mind, for his own sanity, in the moments it took for him to overcome his surprise.

"Yes, I'm Clark Kent. I thought Lois might like a ride to work. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Clark kept his tone even as he studied this man. Trying to ignore the modest amount of chest hair exposed by the robe. Nothing about him indicated hostility or sinister intent. Under different circumstance Clark would probably like him. The bathrobe made that difficult though.

"Yeah I suppose I should explain myself," the man replied while casting a sheepish glance at his attire. "Name's Gabe Gallows." He spoke almost as if he was reminding himself of the name as much as he was introducing himself as he moved to invite Clark in. Upon crossing the threshold Clark took note of the apartment. It didn't look ransacked. If anything it looked cleaner then Clark expected at this point in the week. He also noted that the dryer was running and something was cooking in the kitchen. The sound of the shower running told the reporter where his partner most likely was. "Lois and I met last night in a bar. We both needed some company and just hit it drank a little too much so I brought her home." He made his way to the kitchen where he worked on what appeared to be scrambled eggs mixed with diced vegetables and a few other ingredients.

"And you stayed the night because…"

This query was met with another sheepish look followed by the ding of the dryer. "I didn't want to walk around the city with vomit on my shirt for one thing." He turned off the heat on the breakfast and made his way towards what Lois called her laundry closet. "Lois is a friendly drunk but keep your distance when her eyes start to cross." He opened the laundry closet and then the dryer. Pulling out a dark green T-shirt with the new Meta-Brawl logo on the back and a pair of relaxed fit jeans. The absence of underwear made Clark hopeful that Gabe was wearing them. He noted that the jeans were the same brand worn by many of the league members, himself included, for comfort over costume and ease of removal when it was time to change out of civvies in a hurry.

At that moment the shower cut off and Lois could be heard muttering, "Where is my bathrobe?"

"I'm afraid I'm wearing it Lois," Gabe called out.

"Clark? Is that you?"

"No it's Gabe Gallows. We met last night over drinks? Remember?" Clark hid his wince. The mistake was understandable but this was the second time in as many days that someone had mistook someone else for him.

"You're still here?" She asked as she emerged from the bathroom wrapping her hair in a towel and wearing the plain white robe she kept on hand for when her sister stayed over. Clark wished Gabe had found that one first.

"Well you did throw up on my shirt."

"Did I?" She winced and held her head. The effort of remembering was clashing with her hangover. "Man I need coffee." Clark handed her one of the cups he brought. "Thanks Clark."

"Got time for breakfast?" Gabe inquired.

"Lois looked at the analog wall clock then at the digital one on the microwave. "What's ready?"

"Well I brought Doughnuts," Clark supplied.

"And I cooked eggs mixed with some vegetables that were still good in your fridge," Gabe continued. "Enough for three if you want some Clark. I always make a little extra when I can in case someone wants seconds or something."

"Great," Lois said before Clark could respond to the invitation. "You boys set the table while I get dressed." And with that she returned to her room with her coffee leaving the men to follow her directions.

"Why don't you get dressed Gabe and I'll set up?" Clark offered, already moving towards where Lois kept her dishes and glasses.

"Yeah I suppose I should get ready to go too." Gabe walked over to where his clothes were and took off the robe the way a pro-wrestler might before a match. Though the action seemed more out of habit then intent. "Wouldn't want you guys to be late for work because you were waiting for me."

"So, what do you do for a living Gabe?"

"Oh you could say I'm between jobs at the moment," Gabe replied from within his shirt as if he had thought of the answer in advance. Both Lois and Bruce had taught Clark to recognize such prepared answers.

"I see you're a fan of meta-brawling. I hear they're working to become a legitimate branch of wrestling and are in talks with both the MMA and the UFC." Clark resisted the urge to use his super hearing as a lie detector as he set the table. Prepared answers were not always a sign of deception and, despite the circumstances of their meeting, Clark had no reason to suspect Gabe of anything other than grabbing the first robe he found.

"Yeah I read the article you wrote about that a few days back," Guy replied as his head emerged from the shirt. Followed quickly by his arms emerging from the sleeves. "I like how you downplayed the group's past in favor of the positive image they're trying to generate."

"Think they have a shot?"

"I hope so. For one thing, not all metahumans can be pigeonholed into either hero or villain."

"What are you boys talking about?" Lois asked as she came back into the room. This time fully dressed though still holding the coffee as if she hadn't put it down. Her hair was still slightly damp but would finish drying on the way to work.

"Just making small talk," Clark said with a smile as he placed the box of doughnuts in the middle of the table. Gabe took charge of dispensing the eggs. "You want a doughnut Gabe?"

Gabe eyed the box with the same hungry expression the Daily Planet's sports writer George usually had when his wife had them both on a diet. "I better not. My body is a temple."

"In my experience some of the best playgrounds are by temples and churches," Lois stated as she grabbed a jelly filled with chocolate icing." Have a doughnut so I don't feel self conscious."

Breakfast passed in relatively good spirits as the three ate and made small talk. By the time it was done they were all on the way to becoming friends and Clark had almost forgotten about the boy claiming to be his son. Even the drive to work with Lois was more pleasant than he had been expecting when he left home this morning.

Then they got to work.

"Oh good you're here," Perry said as the reporters emerged from the elevator. "I'm calling a meeting in the conference room. We've got to get a handle on these super kids before anyone else can." Without slowing down for a response the editor of the Daily Planet made his way through the press room towards his destination with all his reporters following in his wake. Once there he took his position of power at the head of the table. "OK People we have three kids so far claiming super types as parents. The TV news already has the jump on us with Flash's kid but all they have on the other two is some bad footage from the security cameras that survived the bank robbery. We have an ace reporter and our best photographer as witnesses." He gestured towards Lois and Jimmy. Jimmy took pride at being called the best. Pride that fell flat with White's next words. "It would be better if Jimmy had some pictures, but let's work with what we have. I want the two of you to talk with our sketch artist. I want clear pictures ready for the next edition."

"Right chief," Lois acknowledged. "Then I'll find out what the League has to say about…"

"Last time you talked with the League several tabloids headlined with stories and pictures of you with several heroes." Clark suppressed a smirk at White's words. The pictures had been the result of a failed attempt at a practical joke by J'onn J'onzz. The joke had failed before J'onn could deliver the punch line, and no one was sure what he was trying for, but the pictures, taken from League security footage, had come in handy when the League had needed to push Lois away for both her own safety and theirs. "No offence but we already have tabloid fodder headlining serious papers with these kids running around. I want to minimize the chances people will bring up that old garbage. Clark will contact the League on this one." He shifted his focus to Clark. " Earlier I received word that the Justice League's current PR man is going to hold a press conference later today, and I want you there, but if you can get any advanced information before then, pounce on it. Lois I want you talking with independent experts. People outside the League. See if it's actually possible for these people to even have kids much less kids at this age and with their powers. Then I want the two of you to compare notes.

The rest of you can resume your regular assignments but if anyone sees or hears anything, from rumors to phantom images, I want to know about it. Questions?"

One of the new members of the mail room tentatively raised her hand. "Mr. White sir? What about their blog?

"Their what?"

"Their blog. The Justice League has an official blog site and a new thread has just started about Inertia and the others."

"Good work Miss?"

"Courtney Whitmore sir."

"Tell Dwayne Dibly about it. He's our tech reporter and handles the website. Man has an overbite like a locomotive's cow catch but he knows computers and can sift out anything useful from that site of yours. Jimmy can show you where his office is once he tells the sketch artist what the other two kids look like. Move people! The chase is on and I want us leading this pack of newshounds by tomorrow." With that everyone scattered.

"See you later Clark," Lois said as she and Jimmy made for the sketch artist.

"Want to compare notes over dinner?"

"Sure. See you at the Diner."

Clark smiled as he made his way to his own destination and wondered if Sketchy had redecorated his cubical since the last time Lois had dealt with him. The boy was an artist who could somehow create detailed and precise drawings from the barest descriptions, but when he didn't have assignments he tended to people watch and was considered too observant for the comfort of some people. Sometimes seeming to know more from body language than most people knew from conversation and often drawing pictures of his coworkers. Usually flattering, like the picture he drew of a younger and trimmer version of Perry, and generally harmless. It's just that Lois wasn't too pleased when she peeked in his cubical and saw herself flying in the Super woman costume she wore last Halloween. Fortunately Jimmy would be there to protect the talented artist from the reporter's formidable temper should there be any other pictures. Because Superman would be busy elsewhere.

"Someone please tell me that these super kids are both delusional and a complete surprise to all of you! And it better be believable! Because if that's not the case! If even one of you had the barest hint that Inertia and his little playmates were running around I am going to be seriously ticked!" The bellowing voice was all too familiar in the halls of the tower and made several of the heroes cringe. It was the voice of Peter Bullock, the League's latest Public Relations man and considered one of the best. In appearance he was a bearded mass of muscle and fat in a modest suit. Most of the time he could be a cuddly teddy bear. The sort of man you would expect to play Santa at the Christmas party. Particularly when the big man laughed. The rest of the time the soft fat turned to hard muscle and he was the scariest grizzly in the forest. He was known as Pete Bull by many of his clients for this fierce attitude. Particularly when something happened that could hurt their public image. Though heaven help the client if that something was his or her own fault.

Superman emerged from the elevator and then tried to turn around and disappear back into it when he saw the PR man's familiar mass. Unfortunately it was too little too late.

"Hold it right there Superman." Superman turned and watched as Pete Bull came towards him like a force of nature. Given a choice the Kryptonian would have rather faced Kalibak with a toothache. "One of these kids claims you as daddy. Which to me means I'll be dealing with headlines like Super Stud Slings Sausage with Volcanic Vixen. So I want as much proof as you can give me that you are not in anyway responsible for this Pyro punk."

"He's not a punk," Superman said reflexively. Which earned him a glare that could have rivaled Batman's. "But he could be a clone of some sort like Bizarro. Or someone else could have found a way to the phantom zone." He quickly added. The glare lessened so he continued. "I can show you a report from some of our most trusted scientists on how I would be unable to conceive a child with a human woman." The original report had been written by Emile Hamilton back when the scientist was still counted as a friend. And had been checked and revised several times since then. It wasn't something the Kryptonian liked to think about. But it got Pete to back down.

"Alright I want that report emailed to my PDA as soon as possible. And a hard copy on my desk before the day is out." His expression softened. "If you want it kept out of the papers I'll try but I can't promise anything." His expression hardened again as he turned to address the room again with a gentler but still clearly projected tone. "I have a press conference later today so I want all the not so proud parents to meet me in the conference room. And that includes any whose kids haven't made headlines yet. I can't do my job unless I know everything you so much as suspect about this." With that he made a beeline for the main conference room. Any heroes or workers in the way quickly cleared his path. As a PR man he could be as hard as a drill sergeant but he had saved their public image almost as often as they had saved the world and despite his temper he cared about them and was actually considered a friend by some. This didn't mean that anyone wanted to be in the same room with him while the whole issue with the kids was going on though.

Fate, who had caught the last declaration, tried to make himself scarce but found his way blocked by both Flash and Shayera.

"Sorry Doc," Flash said. But if we have to face him then so do you."

"Of course. I was just going to get Zatanna," Fate said with a hint of discomfort tainting his normally stoic and wise appearance. At that moment Black Canary arrived with the Mistress of Magic in tow and Fate's shoulders slumped.

"We got the call on our comlinks," Canary explained. "I'm guessing he's waiting for us?"

"And the longer we take the worse he'll be," Superman said as he joined the group. "So we better get in there while he's still warming up." With that he led them to the conference room. This was not going to be pleasant.

Meanwhile. Another meeting was about to take place back on Earth as the figure known as Gabe Gallows made his covert way towards what looked like an old hotel that had been "closed for remodeling" since before Lex Luthor moved out of Suicide Slums.

At first glance the Hotel De Carabas looked like it was somewhere between historical landmark and condemned building. Only the careful observer would notice that, despite an exterior that looked as battered and aged as the buildings around it, the damage seemed more for show and the hotel itself still looked strong. Like a soldier blending in with the environment to guard a secret.

Gabe entered the front door of the hotel, smiling to himself at its well-tuned creak as it closed behind him, and took a moment to admire the interior of the hotel. For while the outside had seen better days the inside looked as clean and modern as any high priced hotel built with the intent of giving guests a retro feel. The hotel was actually a safe house for the criminal elite and had been ever since mob bosses had bought it during prohibition. Since then it had changed hands from one crime family to the other until Lex Luthor had bought it as a temporary residence for some of his less than legal employees and associates. Lex was long gone and there was a betting pool going on how long it would be until Mercy, Lex's former bodyguard and the current head of his corporation, decided to put the property to a more legal use. But until then it served as home for the remaining members of the Legion. One such member was waiting at the foot of the grand staircase.

"Where were you?" Volcana asked as she stood up from her perch on the steps. Her anger almost masking the concern in her voice.

"Out," Gabe replied with a dull edge to his voice. "I needed time to think after meeting your son."

"Dammit Guy I told you I never saw that kid before," Volcana snapped. Her fire elemental powers threatening to spring forth. "And for me to be the mother of some super-teen I would have had to give birth before I even met Superman."

Gabe, whose real name was Guy Pompton AKA Evil Star, sighed as he turned to look at the volcanic villainess that had become his lady love soon after joining the Legion. "I know Claire. But it was still a shock. And you've compared me to him often enough that I've had to wonder. Not to mention that private tropical island you sometimes boast about."

Volcana gave him a flirtatious smirk. "Well the two of you do have a lot in common. At least in terms of personality and build. Besides, I can't have you taking our relationship for granted. I saw how you talked with Lady Lunar back when the Legion was still going strong and everyone knows you kissed Queen Bee."

Guy rolled his eyes. "As I've told you before, I was going to Lady Lunar for advice on how to date you. The two of you were friends. And Queen Bee kissed me I didn't kiss her. Besides, it was the Legion Christmas party. Mistletoe was involved." The party had been a small thing. Held by the die hard Christmas lovers and those members who, for one reason or another, had never experienced a Christmas party and were curious. It had been a moral booster and the only way to keep Toyman from a month long pout.

"By all accounts you enjoyed it."

Guy shrugged. "Her kiss was sweet but I like a lady with more fire in her lips." He gave her a mischievous smile. "You wouldn't know anyone like that would you?"

She matched his smile. "Maybe." Then her expression turned serious. "But I still want to know where you were last night."

"I went somewhere to have a drink and think about the situation. Then I found a place to crash. Not as nice as palace in pauper's clothing but it served." Mentioning that he had spent the night with Lois Lane would not go well with the other villains in general and Volcana in particular so he kept to understated basics. "I wanted to wait on talking about Pyro until we could both think rationally."

"Well our so called teammates weren't so understanding." She grumbled. "Once they all found out I was met with everything from teasing to accusations that I sold us out. At some point I couldn't tell the difference. And with you gone off to who knows where, apparently to drink a liquor store dry and crash at a roach motel, I was left with no one on my side but that Ghostrider on steroids buddy of yours. And since he was in the same boat I had to singe some eyebrows to get them to back off." Her arms crossed as her shoulders slumped. "Almost found out what Toyman looks like under his fake head when he started that 'Sitting in a tree' ryme.

Guy mentally kicked himself. He had been distracted by his own thoughts and hadn't realized how the others would treat her when they found out about the new teen heroes. Sure they were coworkers of a sort. There were even some genuine friendships between some legion members. But they could still be as vicious as the worst schoolyard bullies when riled.

Gently he reached out to caress her shoulder. The action was a considerable risk since she didn't always react favorably to such contact unless she was in control. Then, when his clothes weren't burned off him, he pulled her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you. But I'm here now and I'll help you get through this."

She looked up into his eyes. The spark returning to her own. "You'd better or I'll revoke certain bedroom privileges." Which Guy knew could mean a controlled burn of his room if she was in a bad enough mood. They both moved in for a kiss to seal the deal.

Then Luminus, one of several other residents of the hotel and the man partially responsible for it being off the power grid, came flying out of the dining hall like he had been shot butt first out of a cannon (A/N think a super strong gut punch). Followed soon after by a furious Atomic Skull.

"I told you several times Light bulb. That buzzard bimbo and I can't possible have a kid together," Roared the former meta-brawler. The flames of his head almost scorching the doorway as he stalked out of the diner towards the prone villain.

The kiss interrupted before it could start the pair exchanged glances. Then separated. Guy to calm down his friend. If only because repairs to the hotel were difficult. And Volcana to see if they needed a doctor for Lightner. Luminus wasn't popular but he had his uses.


	11. Meeting Time

**Meeting Time**

"Ow! Watch it will ya!" screamed Luminous, as Volcana applied an ear swab with rubbing alcohol to a cut on his face.

"Hey if you want to do this yourself you can. I don't even know _why_ I'm helping you after all the accusations you threw my way last night," the redheaded villainess snapped back to her ill-tempered patient. "You're lucky I don't just cauterize these."

In the next room of the suite made sick bay Atomic Skull was being calmed down by his best friends and fellow former meta-brawler Evil Star. "I'm not kidding! I swear the next person to make a crack about me and that harpy having a kid together is going to get a hole punched through their gut!" the skull-headed villain roared with such fury that he was heard all the way on the top floor.

"Joey I know you're angry but you have to calm down. Not just so you can cool down, but for us too. It's a freaking sauna in here!" Guy tried to reason with his friend, while taking off his sweat covered shirt. Atomic Skull's flames tended to increase their size and intensity in proportion to certain emotions, anger being a big one. The heat was making the smallish suite's kitchen so hot that the air was becoming hard to breathe.

"Sorry Guy," Atomic Skull said, while trying very hard to get control of himself so his friend wouldn't be struggling to breathe. "It's not just Lightner, its Livewire, Toyman, and even Star Sapphire of all people that are getting to me. You'd think that anti-social Brit would have better things to do than gossip and mock us over this, but nooooo!" Atomic Skull lamented. Of their group their new leader Sinestro was the only one not mocking them about the situation. Though his attitude was clearly of disinterest rather than any pretense of respect.

"You mean Minerva and Giganta have teased you guys too?" Guy asked, mildly surprised.

"Who? Oh yeah Cheetah. She hasn't teased us but she is asking questions that are almost as annoying. Why did you ever date her again? Giganta actually hasn't said a word about it. I forgot. You know how I get mixed up when I get mad," Joey answered sheepishly, the fire on his head almost disappearing. His temper was his greatest enemy. It made him clumsy, tunnel-versioned, forgetful, and often easily confused.

"That's not the issue here, "Guy dodged the question, "What is, is how you keep getting riled up like this. I swear the first thing you did when we got back here was blow up a couch. Not just any of the couches here, but the good one!" Guy yelled at his friend remembering his favorite couch in the hotel being destroyed. The couch in question had been a favorite of many at the hotel, Joey included, because of its solid yet comfortable construction, pleasing fabric pattern, and prime location in front of the hotel's big screen "Top it off you barked at everyone last night, which is probably one of the reasons they're all making fun of you." Guy hated lecturing his best friend like this, but sometimes Joey needed to be read the riot act. Still, he tried to use a gentler tone.

"Yeah, yeah," Joey said, more out of habit than actually listening to his friend go on about the couch or acknowledging that he had a part in his own torment. "At least I didn't hurt anyone too badly," he offered as a way to save some face. "Lightner will be fine and Livewire took a tackle from Superman once so she can handle being thrown a block or two.

"I still can't believe you just threw her like that. She's not a football. Still, good form," Guy joked with his friend, glad he was calming down. This had happened after he had left for the bar, but Joey had filled him in when he returned. Although he wished his friend didn't sound so pleased with himself given that he threw a teammate. Joey almost sounded like he was bragging about it, with all his laughing. Suddenly Guy realized one member of the villain team hadn't been accounted for. "I just noticed I don't know where Toyman is."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to let him out. Damn my temper," Atomic Skull said, adding the last part is a tone that reeked of sarcasm as he walked over to the oven. Reaching it, he opened it and pulled out a shaken up Toyman.

"JOEY!" Guy yelled, shocked at his friend's almost murderous way of dealing with their teammate.

"What? I unplugged it, and he's small enough to fit without me having to break anything. Besides he asked for it with that 'kissing in a tree' thing anyways," Skull justified while holding the much smaller villain by his vest, and handing him over to his friend.

"Winslow. Are you OK? Speak to me!" Guy asked in an overly dramatic voice, while holding the deranged toymaker by his shoulders.

"Pray… for... Winslow," Toyman said before dying a melodramatic death. Making use of the fake tongue in his newly remodeled head.

"See? He's fine," Atomic Skull said, stepping forward, grabbing Toyman by his vest again, and casually throwing him into the next room as if he was a ragdoll, causing Volcana to yell as Toyman landed on her. "Sorry Claire!" Atomic Skull called.

Rubbing his temples Guy thinks to himself, "_I wonder if the heroes are having a better time at this?"_

"_I wonder if the villains are having a better time at this?_" Superman thought to himself as he sat in the conference room, being read the riot act by Pete Bullock, along with the other heroes.

"I can't stress enough how badly this is hurting our image and how hard it's been for me to deal with it when I found out at the same time everyone else did and only know as much as they do. I'm your PR man for God's sake, so why haven't I been informed?!" Pete bellowed so loudly Clark was sure the rest of the Metro Tower could hear.

"Can you stress that without breaking our eardrums Pete? I mean, volume doesn't make it better," Flash tried to reason, but without his normal jovial tone. Superman wondered if that was out of fear of Pete or an actual attempt to get him to lower the volume. With super-hearing as a power, and living in Metropolis, Clark had gotten used to loud noises, but that didn't mean he liked them.

"Fine, but you all have to make sure you hear me the first time because I won't repeat myself. Got it?" Pete agreed, lowering his voice to his normal, but still somewhat loud voice.

"Now back to the issue. Flash and Canary were the first of the would-be 'parents,'" Pete made air quotes with his fingers at "parents." "to get the surprise kid am I right?"

"Yes," Answered Black Canary, while looking at both Pete and Flash. She had rings under her eyes, showing she hasn't gotten much sleep recently.

"Thank you Canary and try to get some sleep. You look awful," Pete stated without looking at her. "And after that Zatanna, you and Fate met your 'child'" Pete continued quickly, making the same quotation marks with his fingers at "child." "Almost immediately after, correct?"

Pete directed his question towards the Mistress of Magic because he recognized Doctor Fate's slouched over and slightly distracted posture. The normally stoic sorcerer was clearly having a hard time with his recent separation. A feeling the PR man knew all too well from his own divorce. Pete would be the first to tell his clients that he was paid to protect and maintain their public image. Not hold hands and listen to sob stories. But he wasn't the heartless browbeater he pretended to be and was perceptive enough to know when his harsh persona would be more hindrance than help to his clients. He would have to find time to talk with Fate in private later.

Zatanna's cough brought Pete back to the meeting. "What was that Zatanna?"

"I said that's correct and that the child called herself 'Jinx' and had a lot of magical powers, but no real training. Weren't you listening?" Zatanna asked the distracted public image man. His lack of attention was something of a surprise but Zatanna wasn't in the mood to think too deeply into it.

"Of course I was, I was just thinking too hard," Pete answered gruffly, embarrassed at being distracted. It was then that he noticed Zatanna was dressed in casual clothing, blue t-shirt, tight blue jeans, plain shoes, and had a small gold necklace with a silver cross. "Zatanna, why are you dressed…," Pete didn't know how to finish his question, "normally?"

"Oh!" Zatanna said, turning a little red. "I knew I was going to come for a meeting, and didn't feel like sticking around, and since everyone who has 'a kid' has been given the offer to take time off I decided to. I didn't know how much I've been working till now. I thought I'd get some lunch after this and didn't want to go home and change."

"I see," Pete said. "Is there anything else about your 'child'" he said with air quotes again, "that we need to know?"

"Only that she doesn't seem to be violent or hostile. She seemed more like she was playing a game and having fun than doing anything wrong. She acted like a kid in a teen's body," Zatanna said while looking upwards, thinking more about it.

"When you say she 'acted' like she was a kid, do you mean she actually thought that, or acted like it in some warped way?" Pete asked without missing a beat, wanting to know what the casually dressed heroine meant. He's had to quit working for some celebrities because they never gave him this crucial information.

"It would be the former Peter. Neither Zatanna, nor myself, sensed any malicious intent from her. That's something no acting can hide when magic is involved." This came from Dr. Fate, who had reminds quiet up till now.

Pete was a little surprised the Doctor was in the conversation since he seemed so distracted but was more intrigued by what he said. "What do you mean by that Fate? And by the way, just call me Pete," he added the second part mainly because it hurt to be called by his full name. Outside of certain situations where more formality was required. Only his deceased older brother Harvey ever called him "Peter."

Recovering quickly Pete thanked Dr. Fate and then turned to Superman. "OK Big Blue, this means you and the hawk met your 'kids' at the same time right?" Both of them nodded even though Superman was the only one addressed. "This time though," Pete continued, "the, shall we say 'pairings' involved villains, and not just any villains, but the ones you were fighting at the metro Bank. Which villains were they again?"

"Two of them were former members of the meta-brawl, but they were all part of the larger group that helped us fight off Darkseid's last invasion," answer Black Canary. "I can point them out to you later on the computer since they're not 'big names' like Metallo or Grodd."

"Well that explains who Volcana was hanging around with. Canary I'll take you up on that offer after this meeting," Pete said this as if it were a fact and not a request. "What did they call themselves?"

"The girl gave out their names, said she was 'Firehawk'" answered John Stewart.

"And she said the boy was 'Pyro'" finished Shayera.

"Hmm," Pete said to himself, "OK that's all I need from you now. I'll get their physical descriptions from your reports, videos, and call you if I need anymore. Canary I'm going to have to keep you a little longer after you show me the villains to get a better idea of your kid," Pete said in his "business" tone that, while uncaring, wasn't and showed he was thinking hard.

Canary gave a low, but audible groan under her breath causing Pete to look up at her. "Sorry, but I am a little tired," she said in an uncharacteristically sheepish voice. Feeling bad for her and like he hadn't contributed enough Flash spoke up.

"Actually Pete I spent the most time with that 'Inertia' kid so I can fill in for BC on that."

"That's actually better. Good thinking Flash, you come with us," Pete said behind him, already having made it to the door.

"I, uh-" turning to his friends for help, Flash wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to go with Canary but now he was practically being forced to.

"Just go Flash. Seriously stop being such a wuss already," Shayera snapped at him. "Hey Canary, he's worried you're going to kick his ass or something so say you won't so he'll move it already," the former Hawkgirl yelled to Canary on her way out.

Not expecting this, but accepting it the blonde bombshell said, "I'm not mad at you at all Flash. I never was, so please stop running away all the time. I've talked to GA as well so everything is fine," she made sure to say all this in the kindest way she could so as not to frighten Flash further.

Flash nodded sheepishly not expecting to be left off the hook so easily, as he got up to followed her out the door.

Meanwhile, in a secret location, Inertia was being read the riot act by his "grandfather."

"And if I ever catch you on television without my express permission again," the figure known as Grandpa growled from behind his desk as he reached for a crystal he used as a paperweight. "I will give you a punishment so severe your decedents will feel it." He crushed the crystal to powder for emphasis. "Do we understand each other?" Though his voice was low and even it held all the menace of a volcano's rumble.

"Yes grandpa, and for like the one billionth time I'm sorry," Inertia was visibly scared by his grandfather yelling. Despite the cool air blowing from the vents Inertia had sill broken out in a cold sweat. Nothing scared him more than his grandfather's cold fury.

Seeing the fear in Inertia's eyes he took a breath and made a visible effort to soften his demeanor. "Thaddeus I'm only mad because I was concerned. I didn't know you had left until I was notified by the computer during your impulsive interview. You could have been caught, or worse killed, during your fight with Heat Wave. Your parents left me in charge of you and the others and for something to happen to any of you would destroy me." He stopped to study Thaddeus to make sure he was listening before continuing. "I may not be your actual grandfather, but, like Wildcat, I'm basically that with how close I am to all your parents. Why _else_ would they trust me afterall? So please stay out of the public eye unless I say it's OK. Don't give them a reason to regret trusting me with you. "

Relieved that his beloved grandfather was no longer angry with him Inertia, AKA Thaddeus West, relaxed. "OK Grandpa. I promise not to anything like that again without permission. "Can I go now? Standing still for too long becomes torture for everyone you know," he said with a knowing grin. Inertia tended to fidget if he stayed in one place for too long. The last time he drummed his fingers on a table so fast it sounded like machine gun fire.

"OK but you still need to be punished, so you go straight to your room, and finish your homework and no computer, League of Legends, TV, _or_ pranks. Got it?"

"GRANDPA?!"

"Got it?" Grandpa said again with a more stern tone.

"Yes… stupid Felix got lucky. Minerva too," he added under his breath. "I had a prank so cleaver that even with their powers they wouldn't have seen it coming." He finished, kicking the ground in annoyance.

At that moment a tall gorgeous blonde strode into the chamber wearing a traditional French maid's outfit that was a size or two small on her athletically muscled frame. Her bosom straining the fabric of the uniform to the point where it might burst free if she just took one deep breath. The skirt barely covering her posterior.

Despite her restrictive outfit she moved with a natural fighting grace as if the clothes fit perfectly. Snapping to attention before Grandfather."Sir, if young master Thaddeus is done I'll escort him to his room now," she said with a small bow.

Inertia was so focused on looking at her tush that he didn't hear his grandfather dismiss him, making him lean over his desk to bonk him on his head with a rolled up magazine. "Thaddeus I said you may go with Miss Sia now."

Remaining silent Inertia left the room with Miss Sia. As they walked he smelled before he saw the pile of poop in the middle of the hall. "Pee yew that reeks," Thaddeus said while pinching his nose to block out the awful smell.

"Yes it is very foul," Miss Sia said, also pinching her nose. Trying to maintain her ladylike poise despite the fragrant feces.

"How can Jinx keep that _thing _in her room all the time and yet it gets out and poops everywhere but her room?!" Thaddeus had gotten very mad very quickly since he has the biggest issue with random poop in the base given the nature of his powers.

"Young master Thaddeus, please be patient with Young Mistress Jinx; she's still a child despite her looks. But, fret not, I will speak with her when I see her-" She didn't finish her sentence as Miss Kat rounded the corner with a pooper scooper in hand to take care of the offending offal.

"If you're looking to speak with Young Jinx, Miss Sia, then you'll have to wait till she returns from walking her pet. Master has given her permission to walk it. He believes it's smelling up the place," Miss Kat informed the two.

"Why does Jinx get to walk her pet… thing and I get in trouble for being on TV and saving everyone at the bank?" Thaddeus snorted and folded his arms in contempt. He liked Jinx and has nothing against her pet, but he gets annoyed at how everyone let's her do anything she wants because she's the youngest. That and he wanted to try out his new champion, Kha'Zix, on League of Legends but now he can't because he was being punished for doing the right thing.

"Jinx asked for permission Thaddeus. You could benefit from her example." Miss Kat said. Being the longer serving of the two maids she addressed the children more directly than Miss Sia did.

"Speaking of which," Miss Sia said as she grabbed Thaddeus by the back of his neck and lifted. "I still need to get you to your room and need to do so quickly. It's almost 7."

"Ow, hey! Watch will ya Sia? What's so important about 7 o clock anyways?" the green-cladded boy asked as he tried to get free but to no avail.

"Jeopardy starts at 7 and I don't want to miss it, now off to your room Young Master Thaddeus," Miss Sia said as she continued to direct her young charge to his room so as to catch her show on time.

(A/N) Sorry for the wait, but better late than never right?

**Review:** Nothing to say except fix the marked problems and post.


End file.
